Houston market ranked overall winner for emerging leasing market

Several markets have emerged as growth markets, and they are becoming strategically important for operations, as well as attractive opportunities for industrial investors. Cushman & Wakefield identified Houston to be the top-performing emerging markets across six key tenant categories.

The six tenant types are third party logistics (3PL), construction/building supplier, e-commerce, retailer/wholesaler, food & beverage and manufacturing.

Houston is the market that ranked either first or second place in all categories, excluding primary markets. The Houston market has had nine deals more than 1 million square feet in the past few years and has thrived mostly in e-commerce and retailer/wholesalers’ activity. Houston totaled over 131.3 million square feet in new leasing activity from 2020-2022. Tenant types were broad-based, with leases signed by some of the largest tenants, including Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Wayfair and Tesla.

Houston has seen over 53 m