Industry eyes have been laser-focused on industrial over the course of the pandemic, as the sector got a big boost from rising e-commerce demand. But as e-commerce activity falls back down to earth, some have questioned what will happen next for the sector. 

To get a sense of how the asset class may perform, look to longer-term trends, says Jim Costello, executive director, MSCI Research, in a new blog.

"As the US moved past the tightest restrictions of the pandemic, however, the pace of growth in e-commerce sales slowed. Some may be tempted to set expectations for the future of e-commerce and industrial property demand and pricing from this recent inversion alone," Costello writes. "But the shock of the pandemic continues to reverberate through economic and financial data, and looking past the noise to the longer-term trends may be a better guide."