Those looking for industrial space this past year chose to supersize and upgrade, according to new Cushman & Wakefield research.
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The number of companies gobbling up 500K SF or more of industrial and logistics space in the U.S. surged 32% year-over-year in 2025, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s new report. That’s a departure from leasing activity in 2023 and 2024, when tenants made do with smaller spaces.
“This is a clear return of the large-format tenant,” Jason Price, head of logistics and industrial research in the Americas for Cushman & Wakefield, said in the report.
Tenants also showed a clear preference in 2025 for the newest and best warehouses, with 113M SF — or 64% of leasing activity — inked for newer large-format logistical facilities. The firm said tenants are consolidating from smaller, outdated warehouses into facilities with higher ceiling heights, more power capacity and infrastructure that supports automation and robotics.
Third-party logistical firms and manufacturers accounted for almost two-thirds of the leasing activity this past year. The average deal size among the top 100 leases in 2025 increased 20K SF to 988K SF in 2025.
While leasing for space that is 500K SF or more did pick up last year, CBRE noted that the number of leases that exceeded 1M SF declined by about 6% year-over-year.
The change in leasing behavior comes in the wake of a turbulent 2024, when tariffs, overbuilding and slower tenant demand dampened the industrial market. Industrial landlords saw net absorption drop by 27% to 168M SF in 2024, with vacancies rising 126 basis points to 6.8% nationally, according to a Colliers report.
New deals also dominated the top 100 leases last year, with 78 of those signing new leases totaling 77.6M SF. The average lease term increased from 92 months in 2024 to 98 months last year, according to CBRE.
Cushman & Wakefield said in its report that the leasing indicators bode well for industrial activity this year.
Already in the first quarter, automated warehouse operator Exol inked a 973K SF lease at South Penn Logistics Center in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. Also, canned beverage maker DrinkPak grabbed a 1.4M SF lease at the Bellwether District in Philadelphia, according to a Newmark press release.
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