CHICAGO—Industrial assets among the 7,527 commercial properties indexed by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries posted the highest returns in the fourth quarter, NCREIF said Thursday afternoon. The sector's leading status carries over to 12-month results, for which industrial was the only property type in the NCREIF Property Index (NPI) to post double-digit returns.

For Q4 2017, industrial's return was 3.28%, or 13.07% on an annualized basis. For comparison, the quarter's second-best performer among property types, office, posted a total return of 1.65% in Q4 and 6% over the preceding 12 months. Apartments came in third with a 1.62% return in Q4 and 6.2% on an annual basis.

NCREIF attributes industrial's strong showing to the demand for warehouse space needed for online retailers like Amazon. That may also explain why industrial properties in the NPI posted the quarter's highest occupancy rate at 96.37%, up 27 basis points from Q3. Occupancies overall for the NPI were at a 16-year high in Q4 at 93.6%.