The Inland Empire Claimed the Largest Number of Industrial Leases Nationally in The First Half of 2024

California’s Inland Empire once again accounted for the largest share of the top 100 industrial leases in the first half of 2024, according to a new report from CBRE.

The region claimed 15 of the top 100 leases, including the most new leases and the most measuring one million sq. ft. or larger. Fifty-three percent of the Inland Empire’s transactions were new leases, and across all 15 leases, the square footage totaled 12.5 million sq. ft.

"Although deals are taking longer to make and there is less urgency among tenants, larger occupiers are taking advantage of the opportunity to right-size their supply chains and become more efficient," said Ian Britton, CBRE’s managing director and regional leader for Inland Empire. "Many are consolidating multiple facilities under one roof, improving demand in the 1 million-square-foot-plus size range."

The Inland Empire’s leases were dominated by traditional retailers and wholesalers (5), third-party logistics providers (4) and e-commerce operators (3).

"While pockets of oversupply in certain size ranges and the amount of sublease space on the market is well above our historical average, mega-warehouses remain highly sought after and are in short supply due to our shrinking land base and significant entitlement challenges," added Mr. Britton.

Nationally, occupiers signed leases for 31 megawarehouses, or those 1 million sq. ft. or larger, in the U.S. in the first half of the year, a 35% increase from the 24 recorded in 2023. Meanwhile, an abundance of new supply in the 1 million-sq.-ft.-plus category contributed to first year taking rents declining by 2.2% from 2023 levels. Many of the warehouse completions that came online this year were started months or years ago, when market conditions were more favorable for new construction. Lease rates for all sizes of warehouses also increased by 7.7% from H1 2023 to H1 2024.

Other top industrial leasing markets include:

Markets With Largest Share of Top 100 Industrial Leases of First Half of 2024