The Dallas-Fort Worth industrial market remained the United States’ busiest warehouse and distribution hub in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest research from JLL.
According to JLL’s second-quarter 2026 Dallas-Fort Worth industrial report, the market is leading the United States in both supply and demand, with another quarter of strong leasing activity, declining vacancy rates and a growing development pipeline signaling that occupier demand remains healthy despite years of rapid construction.
One of the biggest indicators of the market’s strength is its steadily tightening vacancy rate. JLL reported that industrial vacancy has now declined for seven consecutive quarters after reaching 11.1% in the third quarter of 2024. At the close of the second quarter, vacancy stood at 9.3%, the first time the market has remained below the 10% mark since late 2023.
That decline comes as tenants continue absorbing available space faster than developers can deliver new product. Dallas-Fort Worth recorded 17.9 million square feet of net absorption during the first half of 2026, making it one of only four U.S. industrial markets to surpass 10 million square feet of year-to-date absorption. Phoenix, Chicago and Houston also topped that milestone, but none matched Dallas-Fort Worth’s overall leasing momentum, according to JLL.
Following a record-setting first quarter, tenants leased another 16.9 million square feet of industrial space during the second quarter. While that total was slightly below the all-time high reached in the previous quarter, it still ranked as the third-highest quarterly leasing volume of the past decade.
The first six months of 2026 produced 34.6 million square feet of leasing activity, already exceeding the year-to-date totals posted through the third quarter of both 2024 and 2025.
JLL noted that leasing activity has accelerated dramatically over the last decade. While Dallas-Fort Worth’s industrial inventory has expanded by more than 53% during that period, leasing volume has more than doubled, reflecting both the region’s expanding logistics footprint and sustained demand from occupiers.
Developers have responded by increasing construction activity. More than 31 million square feet of industrial space was under construction during the second quarter, the largest development pipeline since the fourth quarter of 2023. Year-to-date deliveries reached 13.2 million square feet, representing a 41.3% increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
Even with that construction pipeline, available move-in-ready space is becoming increasingly difficult to find. JLL reported that vacant available industrial space declined by 7.1 million square feet during the second quarter alone, the steepest quarterly drop on record. Over the past 12 months, available vacant space has fallen by nearly 16.4 million square feet, a decline of roughly 19%.
The brokerage said companies seeking immediate occupancy may find fewer options available through the remainder of 2026 as leasing continues to outpace new deliveries.
Additional inventory should begin arriving during the first half of 2027 as speculative projects now under construction are completed. However, JLL noted that those buildings are attracting increasing levels of preleasing activity before construction finishes.
Approximately 37.7% of the current development pipeline is already preleased, meaning much of the speculative space expected to reach the market next year may already have committed tenants before it is delivered.
Average asking rents continued to trend higher during the second quarter, reaching $8.99 per square foot, while concession packages remained generally stable, according to JLL.
