(Save the date: RealShare Chicago comes to the Union League Club of Chicago October 23.)

CHICAGO-There’s five clear reasons why the class A, 400,000-square-foot and larger industrial market still registers less than 10% vacant, with the traditional coastal markets leading the strong numbers. However, even the distribution hubs such as Chicago posted low vacancy and surprisingly strong absorption, according to reports by Jones Lang LaSalle.

The national large-box industrial market, particularly the distribution centers, have increased in demand because of a lack of supply, an influx of new foreign capital but reductions in foreign supply chains, the explosion of e-commerce and solid US infrastructure, JLL EVP Tim O’Rourke tells GlobeSt.com. There’s been two years of solid consecutive quarters of positive absorption, but the economy and basic fundamentals have kept the absorption down below pre-recession levels.