The industrial sector powered through the worst of the pandemic without missing a step — and the outperformance of the sector has only served to stoke investor demand with robust transaction volume and rising property prices.

“Spreads over U.S. benchmark rates continue to be at high levels by historic standards, which will continue to drive capital into the sector,” says Dennis Mitchell, CCIM, senior managing director JLL Capital Markets in Atlanta. “Additionally, property fundamentals remain strong as demand continues to outpace supply by a wide margin. Due to these tailwinds, we expect investor interest for industrial assets to continue to remain strong.”

Industrial sales during the first half of 2021 reached $51.9 billion — 10 percent higher than the same period in 2020 and 26 percent above the $38.4 billion in sales recorded during the first half of 2019, according to Real Capital Analytics. Anecdotally, the story is much the same. In Chicago, year-to-date sales through July are tracking about the same or higher than pre-pandemic periods in 2017, 2018, and 2019. “That further proves that industrial continues to perform well despite the challenges of the pandemic, and we think the second half of the year will continue on that same trajectory and finish very strong,” says Adam Marshall, CCIM, SIOR, a senior managing director in the Chicago office of Newmark. Click to read more at www.ccim.com.