Growing Share Of Industrial Occupiers Buying Instead Of Renting

Occupiers of industrial properties are increasingly opting to purchase rather than rent their buildings. 

There were 2,504 industrial sales to owner-occupiers in 2024, a 32% increase from the prior year's total of 1,895, according to a new CBRE report that looked at facilities of more than 10K SF. 

The trend is contributing to increased industrial property values, the report found. The average sale price of an industrial property was up 5% last year, reaching $152.42 per SF. 

CBRE said the trend is fueled by a variety of long-term cost savings implications, including tax deductions, the ability to renovate or customize the space, and using it as a long-term investment. 

Older assets are also becoming less appealing to investors as tenants are increasingly flocking to new industrial properties, the research team said in a September report. 

But for these owner-occupiers, older properties are the assets of choice. 

More than 75% of last year's occupier acquisitions were for buildings constructed before 2000, and nearly half of them were built before 1980. 

Chicago was the most active market for occupiers opting to buy, with 188 such sales last year. Houston came in second, with occupiers purchasing 143 properties, and Los Angeles was third, with 123 transactions.

Last fall, United Therapeutics bought a 96K SF industrial building in Durham, North Carolina, that it intended to occupy for $33M, according to CBRE, which facilitated the sale. Earlier this year, Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of a 31K SF flex/industrial building in North Andover, Massachusetts, to a privately held owner-occupier.