Even as industrial vacancy has increased to 6.1% over the past year and a half, completions may fall short of long-term demand in most markets during the months ahead, according to Marcus & Millichap's latest quarterly report on the national industrial sector.

The report's optimism about future space demand is based on increased requirements as companies adopt automation and robotics. In addition, the growth of e-commerce sales, which rose 1.1% in 1H 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, drove increased leasing activity.

"The 1 million square-foot-plus segment was the only property size tranche to post an improvement to net absorption over the year ended in June," it stated.