Rexford spends $336M on industrial in Q4 despite rate hikes

REIT closes 2022 with $2.4B in acquisitions

From left: Rexford’s Howard Schwimmer and Michael Frankel along with 14400 South Figueroa Street (Getty, Rexford Industrial Realty, LoopNet)
From left: Rexford’s Howard Schwimmer and Michael Frankel along with 14400 South Figueroa Street (Getty, Rexford Industrial Realty, LoopNet)

Not everyone in commercial real estate can say they had a busy 2022, as rising interest rates hampered sales in the latter half of the year.

But Rexford Industrial Realty didn’t let rising rates stop them. The firm spent $2.4 billion buying up industrial properties last year — $500 million more than it spent in 2021, the firm announced on Thursday.

The firm’s spending in the second half of last year, which totaled $1.3 billion, dipped by 8 percent compared to the $1.4 billion that Rexford spent in the latter six months of 2021.

The volume of Rexford’s acquisitions, which are often made with cash or through 1031 exchanges, suggest the firm was more sheltered from the impacts of rising interest rates, which stalled office and retail deals from June onwards.

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All of L.A.’s top office deals during 2022 occurred in the first half of 2022, before the Federal Reserve Bank started hiking rates.

In the fourth quarter, Rexford spent $336 million on 10 properties in L.A. and the Inland Empire.

The largest deal was a five-property portfolio from the South Bay to the Inland Empire. IDI Logistics sold the properties, which are located in Carson, Torrance and Fontana, for $198.1 million, according to deeds filed with L.A. County last month.

Also in the South Bay, Rexford bought a 5-acre site at 14400 South Figueroa Street for $49 million and 3 acres at 3131 East Harcourt Street in Rancho Dominguez for $27.5 million. Rexford intends to redevelop both sites into warehouses.

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