IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire industrial market showed no signs of slowing down during the first quarter of this year.
An estimated 5.2 million square feet of industrial space was absorbed during the first three months of this year, the two-county region’s 22nd consecutive quarter of positive net absorption, according to the Colliers International’s first quarter report on the Inland industrial market.
That puts Riverside and San Bernardino counties on pace to top the 14.5 million square feet of industrial space it absorbed last year.
Industrial vacancy was essentially unchanged – 4.5 percent compared with 4.3 percent in fourth quarter of 2014 – meaning demand is keeping pace with supply.
At the same time, the Inland Empire’s industrial sector is undergoing a major construction boom: during the past 12 months, 25.6 million square feet of projects were completed.
Slightly more than seven million square feet of industrial space is expected to be finished during the current quarter, Colliers predicted.
Lease rates rose two cents per square foot during the first quarter, to 44 cents per square foot. Industrial rents in the Inland region hit bottom in late 2010, when they reached 30 cents per square foot, but they’ve been climbing back since then and are now close to their peak of 45 cents per square foot, according to Colliers.
