BOSTON – Greater Boston’s industrial real estate market closed 2015 with a very strong fourth quarter, posting positive absorption totals and asking lease rates not seen in several years, according to “indSTATus – Q4 2015,” a research report from Transwestern | RBJ that highlights leasing activity in warehouse, flex and manufacturing properties.
“We’ll usually see one or two property types outperform the other during a reporting period, but fourth-quarter 2015 saw the industrial market firing on all cylinders,” said Northeast Research Director Chase Bourdelaise. “We anticipate the industrial market continuing to perform well, given that the leasing fundamentals on the demand side and supply side remain healthy and there is limited new construction on the horizon.”
WAREHOUSE
• Vacancy hit a record low of 11 percent, down from 11.4 percent last quarter and 4.7 percentage points lower than the five-year average of 15.7 percent.
• Tenants absorbed 239,000 square feet of space.
• Asking lease rates rose to $5.92 per square foot from $5.78 last quarter.
FLEX
• Vacancy dropped to 13.9 percent, the lowest level since 2001 and down from 15.3 percent in third-quarter 2015.
• Tenants absorbed 327,000 square feet of space.
• Asking lease rates rose 6.1 percent from $8.69 last quarter to $9.22 per square foot, eclipsing $9 for the first time since 2008.
MANUFACTURING
• Vacancy dropped into single digits for the first time on record, down to 9.9 percent from 11.0 percent last quarter.
• Positive quarterly absorption of 104,000 square feet snapped a two-quarter negative streak.
• Asking lease rates rose 5.6 percent from $7.66 per square foot last quarter to $8.09 per square foot, breaking $8 for the first time since mid-2008.
In addition to “indSTATus,” Transwestern | RBJ publishes 10 other quarterly research reports: “officeSTATus,” which focuses on Greater Boston’s office market and individual “marketSTATus” reports on nine crucial submarkets. The firm’s biotechnology-focused report, “bioSTATus,” is released twice a year. In total, the firm produces 46 reports per year, in addition to custom research projects for clients.
