The industrial vacancy rate across the country jumped to 5.2% at the end of March, according to the latest research from CommercialEdge. But in good news for Detroit, this Midwest city saw a 4% increase in its average industrial rent during the first quarter of 2024.
Those were two key trends highlighted in CommercialEdge’s April National Industrial Report.
Other important findings? Industrial rents continued to rise not only in Detroit but across the country, with March in-place rents growing 7.3% on a year-over-year basis to $7.85 a square foot. The average rate for new industrial leases signed in the last 12 months was $10.43 a square foot, $2.58 more than the average for all commercial property types during this same period.
How did Midwest and Texas markets fare when it comes to rent growth? Detroit saw a 4% increase in its average industrial rent, sending it to $6.79 a square foot as of the end of the year’s first quarter.
CommercialEdge reported that in Nashville, the average industrial rent increased 7.5% on a year-over-year basis to $5.90 a square foot, while in Dallas, it jumped 6.7% to an average of $5.91.
In Columbus, the average industrial rent rose 5.9% to $4.70 and in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, it jumped 5.5% to an average of $6.90. Cincinnati’s average industrial rent per square foot of $4.73 was a jump of 5.1%, while Memphis’ $3.92 represented an increase of 5.1% and Indianapolis’ $4.60 a jump of 4.9%.
In Chicago, the average industrial rent increased by 4.7% to $6.06 a square foot. In St. Louis, the average per-square-foot industrial rent jumped by 4.5% to a $4.66. In Houston, it jumped 4.5% to $6.54. In Kansas City this figure bumped up to $4.96, a jump of 3.8% from a year earlier.
CommercialEdge reported, too, that 405.9 million square feet of new industrial supply was under development as of March. That is a significant slowdown from this time last year, with CommercialEdge saying that industrial product under development today is about two-thirds the size of last year’s volume.
Industrial transactions totaled $10 billion through the first quarter of 2024. These sales notched an average price of $147 a square foot, CommercialEdge reported.
