CHICAGO—Researchers have tabulated the first quarter data for the Chicago region's industrial market, and its long run of superb numbers has continued. The first three months of 2017 saw 3.5 million square feet of net absorption, the 28th consecutive quarter for positive growth, according to a new report from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. That is 3% higher than last year's first quarter, and brings the total for the past year up to a 14.5 million square feet. The vacancy rate was just 7.6%. In the past seven years, that percentage has dropped 430 bps.
Not surprisingly, the intense level of demand means developers have also been extremely active. About 4.8 million square feet of new space, much of it designed for e-commerce or logistics, came online in the first quarter, NGKF found. And since the end of the recession, area developers have constructed 66.9 million square feet of new space.
Rents have also continued to rise, due to an aggressive push by landlords, and a willingness by tenants to pay. In the past five years, rents have roughly increased on average about 1.0% each quarter.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
