NEW YORK CITY- More investors have begun to see industrial properties as safe bets and have even started buying up product in tertiary markets according to figures just released by Real Capital Analytics. The sales of significant industrials totaled $2.2 billion in February, an increase of 22% from the previous February, bringing the total for the year's first two months up to$4.8 billion, up 26% from last year, the data provider found.

Most significant, perhaps, was that nearly $1 billion of this year's volume occurred in tertiary markets, a 174% increase over the same two months last year. “Although still early in the year, the positive trend is noteworthy and it holds for both individual and portfolio transactions.”

Source: Real Capital Analytics

Also striking was the greater interest in industrial properties shown by institutional investors. In 2012, these buyers spent almost $5 billion on industrial transactions, a 68% increase over 2011. Furthermore, their acquisition cap rates were only 6.9%, compared to an overall average of 7.7%, an indication that these buyers were targeting the highest quality property. “Nearly 20% of their acquisitions were in the L.A Metro with non-core industrial markets such as Miami and Sacramento also topping the list.”