Industrial Boom: Big-Box Warehouses Are Now More Valuable Than Offices

Thanks to the rise of e-commerce, the value of big-box warehouses now surpasses that of office buildings.

Industrial Space

A new report by Colliers International shows large high-tech warehouses of more than 200K SF with 28-foot ceilings have become particularly valuable.

The brokerage tracked big-box industrial performance in 14 markets in North America and found these assets now command a record-low 5.8% cap rate, down from nearly 8.5% in 2009.

Lower cap rates are favorable because they indicate an asset is of greater value. Office cap rates dropped to 6.7% in U.S. suburban and rural markets in 2017 and stood at 5.7% in urban markets, Bloomberg reports.

Amazon has been a major driver for the sector and occupies 102M SF of warehouse space across nearly 260 facilities. The e-commerce behemoth intends to add another 37.8M SF before the end of 2018. Companies such as Blackstone Group are also providing a boost to the sector. The asset manager has been on an industrial real estate shopping spree, acquiring a 41-property industrial portfolio for $359M this week. In December, Blackstone bought a 22M SF, $1.8B portfolio and in February the firm purchased a 1.71M SF portfolio for $151M.

Vacancy rates in the sector have hit all-time lows, even with an influx of construction. Markets such as Indianapolis, Phoenix and California's Inland Empire ranked among the top markets for warehouse demand, Bloomberg reports.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Trump's New Canadian Tariffs To Spike Additional Materials Costs

Wells Fargo Moves To Foreclose On $1.3B Workspace Property Trust Portfolio

Turner Construction Hit With Cyberattack, Hackers Claim Leaks Of Military Info, NDAs

Latest Round Of Fannie Mae Senior Staff Layoffs Has Multifamily Sector Anxious

Why Hines Is Restarting Its Development Engine

Power Availability Becomes New Requirement For Shifting Bay Area Industrial Base

How Integrated Infrastructure Can Help AI Data Centers Deploy Faster, Build Smarter

Nvidia Buys Stake In Data Center Power Company

Invesco Cuts Fees, Adds Incentives To Quell Fund Redemption Requests

Investors Anchor Big Capital Into Marinas, Betting On Shallow Supply

Nike Closes 15 Stores Amid Tumultuous Year

Large Commercial Real Estate Sales Up 30% Despite Economic Headwinds