Industrial leasing activity decelerates, still higher than pre-pandemic years

Class A leasing activity in the industrial sector remains well above the three-year pre-pandemic average at 82.8 million square feet, comprising nearly half of all first quarter industrial leasing activity, according to  latest Industrial Research from Newmark. But it is a deceleration quarter-over-quarter, down 12 percent.

Class A leasing activity comprised 47 percent of overall activity in the first quarter of 2023, down from a recent high of 48.7 percent.

During the Great Recession, class A leasing decelerated or remained flat for three years before the long-term u