Nothing could stop the Chicago industrial market as 2021 drew to a close. That’s the most important conclusion to draw from Newmark‘s fourth-quarter 2021 Chicago industrial report.
According to Newmark’s research, the Chicago industrial market enjoyed a record-setting year in 2021 when it came to vacancy rate and leasing volume.
Newmark reported that the industrial vacancy rate fell 60 basis points in the fourth quarter of last year to 5.1 percent. That’s the lowest this rate has ever been in the Chicago market. It’s also a drop of 1.7 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
The drop in vacancy was fueled by 9.2 million square feet of positive absorption in the fourth quarter, which capped a 2021 in which the Chicago industrial market saw 33.6 million square of positive absorption. As Newmark says, this is the equivalent of 2.8 percent of the total industrial market.
Leasing volume surged in the fourth quarter of last year, too, with Newmark reporting a volume of 62.4 million square feet, another Chicago industrial market record for a quarter. This leasing boost drove availability down more than 10 million square feet in the fourth quarter to just 82.3 million square feet. And, yes, that, too, is a record for this market.
And in one more bit of good news, Newmark reported that the average asking rental rate for industrial space in the Chicago market rose to $5.99 a square foot in the fourth quarter.
