Industrial real estate is no longer simply the steady workhorse operating quietly behind the scenes. The market sector has jumped to the forefront as the property everyone is talking about. That attention is well deserved, with secular shifts that are spurring steady demand for space and overall performance that is tough to ignore. According to the NCREIF Property Index, industrial is expected to generate returns of 10.3 percent this year, well ahead of the 6 percent returns expected in both office and apartments and 2.9 percent for retail. The market has been riding a significant tailwind from e-commerce, and that breeze is only expected to grow stronger. “Logistics real estate remains strong and, in most markets, customers are waiting for new supply to come online due to the limited availability of standing inventory in nearly all U.S. cities,” says Kim Snyder, president of the west region at Prologis. Industrial also is seeing demand coming from sources across the board – third-party logistics and logistics firms, manufacturers, light assembly, and even cannabis growers. According to the Urban Land Institute’s Real Estate Economic Forecast for Spring 2019, the industrial/warehouse vacancy rate is hovering around 7 percent, well below its 20-year average of 10.2 percent. CBRE puts warehouse vacancies even lower, at 4.4 percent. Industry sources agree that demand has been fueling a surge in warehouse development in recent years. Click to read more at www.ccim.com.