While the US economy has dangerously slumped for much of the year, demand for industrial space has only continued to increase.

Net absorption for bulk industrial space was up 51% to 79.8 million square feet in the first half of the year, according to Colliers. At mid-year 2019, 52.8 million square feet had transacted.

The pandemic drove these gains as e-commerce surged in the first half of the year. E-commerce accounted for 16.1% of retail sales in Q2 2020, which was an increase over the 11.8% in the previous quarter, according to the US Department of Commerce. That was a record for online shopping.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

  • Unlimited access to GlobeSt and other free ALM publications
  • Access to 15 years of GlobeSt archives
  • Your choice of GlobeSt digital newsletters and over 70 others from popular sister publications
  • 1 free article* every 30 days across the ALM subscription network
  • Exclusive discounts on ALM events and publications
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Leslie Shaver

Les Shaver has been covering commercial and residential real estate for almost 20 years. His work has appeared in Multifamily Executive, Builder, units, Arlington Magazine in addition to GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum.