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New Warehouse

10 Toughest Places to Find Warehouse Space

July 27, 2015
Vacancy rates for warehouse space is at its lowest level in more than 14 years, and rent price-tags are on the rise. This slideshow takes a look at the ten toughest places to find warehouse vacancies.

If you’re looking for available warehouse space in California this year, you might find a lot more “No Vacancy” signs than you were used to seeing in previous years. And if you do get lucky and find available space, be prepared to spend a good bit more than in years past. That’s the price to pay for a recovering economy.

According to a recent study by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, five of the ten U.S. markets with the lowest industrial vacancy rate are in California, mostly in or near the San Francisco or Los Angeles areas.

Nationwide, overall vacancy rate is down to 6.6%, which is the lowest level since first-quarter 2001, during the last days of the Internet boom. In the San Francisco Peninsula area (part of which is colloquially known as Silicon Valley), the rate is 2.4%, the lowest vacancy rate in the U.S.

“The significant space absorption during the first six month of 2015, coupled with historically low supply, is driving strong rent growth in most major industrial hubs,” explains John Morris, leader of Cushman & Wakefield’s Industrial Services Group. “U.S. warehouse rents, at a weighted average of $5.17 per square foot, are up 3.7% year-over-year. They are projected to grow 5$ by year-end and by more than 10% over the next three years.”

If you’re willing to locate your warehouse a bit outside of Los Angeles, your luck should improve significantly as the Inland Empire region of Southern California leads the nation in new development, with 18.8 million square feet currently under construction. Other areas rapidly expanding their warehouse footprint include Atlanta (17.4 million sq. ft. under construction) and Dallas/Fort Worth (13.1 million sq. ft.).

This slideshow offers a look at the 10 U.S. markets with the lowest vacancy rates, as of the second quarter of 2015.

About the Author

Dave Blanchard | Senior Director of Content

During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2021), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its third edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.

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