The global industrial and logistics real estate sector appears to have reached a mature state in the current economic cycle, according to CBRE’s 2017 Real Estate Market Outlook report. CBRE believes the industrial sector is uniquely positioned to benefit from structural changes, such as online retailing, which have forced a transformation of global supply chains and will continue to act as a significant engine for growth.

On average, online retailers require three times more space than traditional warehouse users. According to CBRE’s Global Supply Chain Practice, for every $1 billion of new online retail sales, an additional 1 million square feet of new distribution space is needed. Given current online retail growth forecasts, this translates to an annual average of 40 million square feet of new warehouse demand between 2017 and 2020.

As in Europe and the United States, Asian consumers are much more demanding of fast and cheap service, especially from onl