In the industrial sector, REITs and institutional investors are replacing smaller, private owners. According to Business Insider (citing data from CBRE), over each of the past 12 years, institutional investors have purchased more warehouse space than they’ve sold, while private owners and owner-operators have sold more than they’ve acquired. In 2021, net transfers of warehouse assets by private owners totaled -$27.9 billion, while net acquisitions of warehouse space by REITs and institutional investors totaled $25.9 billion, according to the report (citing research from Savills North America).

Prologis, a public REIT with a market cap of $100 billion, and Blackstone, an alternative-investment firm with a market cap of $131 billion, are the biggest investors in warehouses, according to the report. Prologis has 570 million square feet of warehouse space under management in the U.S. and over 1 billion square feet globally whereas Blackstone owns 480 million square feet of warehouse space in the U.S. and a total of over a billion square feet across the world, according to Business Insider.

Since the beginning of 2010, average US warehouse rents have climbed almost 75 percent (from $4.72/sf to $8.18/sf), according to the report (citing data from CBRE). The average price per square foot for last-mile/urban logistics transactions have increased by a compounded annualized growth rate of 17.2 percent, increasing from just over $150/sf in 2017 to “instances” of over $300/sf in 2022, according to Avison Young.

Last Updated on October 24, 2022 by Ramin Seddiq