Industrial vacancy rates lowest in decades: report

Strong demand, low vacancy rates and spec construction are among the takeaways of Transwestern’s Q2 Miami Industrial Report, The Real Deal has learned.

Vacancy rates continued declining to 5.4 percent, the lowest in a decade, according to the report. In the 11 Miami submarkets the report included, the airport submarket reported 6.3 percent vacancy and Medley was at 3.7 percent.

Miami industrial development pipeline (Credit: Transwestern)

In those submarkets, a combined more than 700,000 square feet of new product is under construction, and one third of that is pre-leased, according to the report. Transwestern used internal data as well as CoStar, and included inventory of buildings of 20,000 square feet or more.

“Spec construction is exciting and new to our market,”  Ben Eisenberg, senior managing director at Transwestern, told TRD. “International logistics firms and distributors are looking for more modern Class A builders with higher ceilings.”

High demand, coupled with the rezoning of industrial areas such as Doral and Wynwood, will lead to new construction replacing older buildings, he said.

East Miami had the highest rents per square foot at $15. South central Miami followed at $12.22, and behind that was southwest Dade at $12.09 per square foot.

“You’re seeing industrial zoned land turn into multifamily, which is raising prices,” Eisenberg said.