The Cincinnati-area industrial market enjoyed a busy — if not booming — first quarter of the year, with Cushman & Wakefield reporting that it absorbed a strong 774,000 square feet during the first three months of 2016.
That’s a solid number, but is actually down from the last four quarters. Cushman & Wakefield reported that the Cincinnati industrial market absorbed more than 1 million square feet during these previous four quarters. Net absorption would have been above 1 million square feet during this quarter if not for six industrial vacancies of 50,000 square feet or more that occurred during the first quarter.
Doug Bolton, market leader for Cusmhan & Wakefield for Cincinnati and Dayton, said that these six big industrial vacancies shouldn’t stay empty for long.
“Current demand should refill those vacancies fairly quickly, even with all the new construction coming online this year,” Bolton said. “Overall, record demand and absorption of the past year-plus, leading to Cincinnati’s highest volume of industrial construction since 2000, bodes well for the market.”
Cushman & Wakefield reported that the Cincinnati area’s Northwest submarket saw the most demand, with 493,093 square feet of net absorption in the industrial sector. That was followed by Northern Kentucky, with 239,769 square feet.
Industrial vacancy rates continued to fall, hitting 4.21 percent for the first quarter. That is a 15-year low for the Cincinnati industrial market, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
The future looks to be just as busy. Cushman & Wakefield reported that a record 4.6 million square feet of industrial space is under construction in the Cincinnati-area market. Much of this new space is under construction in the Northern Kentucky submarket, almost 2.5 million square feet.
