Among the harsh lessons the pandemic taught industries is that relying on thinly sourced supply chains, particularly for manufactured goods, can be a mistake. Something coming from that experience is a degree of reshoring manufacturing—bringing it back to the U.S., as Avison Young notes.

The push has been growing for "several years … with 1.3 million manufacturing jobs brought back to the U.S. since 2010." Manufacturing grew by 21.6%, according to the Census Bureau, and new manufacturing facilities construction was up 116%.

The reason is to diversify supply chains. "Many companies are investing in domestic facilities based on lessons learned during the pandemic, as product shortages disrupted their business flow," the firm wrote. "Recent intense pandemic lockdowns in China took many businesses by surprise and threw another jolt into the already disruptive supply chain. By locating facilities in the U.S., they can mitigate risk and gain more control over the production, quality and distribution of their products."