The industrial property sector is outshining other asset classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector has enjoyed strong tailwinds during the crisis, which has seen an increase in ecommerce as well as demonstrated a need for more robust supply chains.
Industrial assets are seeing strong leasing demand from tenants — across industries and across all sizes. “We’re seeing broad-based demand,” says Jonathan Pharris, president of CapRock Partners.
JLL recently forecast demand for industrial space from ecommerce alone could represent an additional 1 billion square feet of space by 2025.
But while leasing activity has been strong, “Sales transactions year-over-year are definitely going to be slower versus 2019,” says Pharris. He notes there were hardly any sales transactions in the first 90 days of the pandemic, but there has been an increase in activity recently
