Real estate firm JLL, which attributed as much as 35 per cent of its industrial leasing in the United States to e-commerce prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports around half of its leasing activity this year is already due to such operations that are likely to see a 20 per cent growth in 2020. It expects US e-commerce sales to hit $1.5 trillion by 2025, raising the demand for industrial real estate to an additional billion square feet.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shelter-in-place policies have accelerated e-commerce growth and the need for warehouse space across the United States, JLL said in a press release.JLL, which attributed 35 per cent of its US industrial leasing to e-commerce prior to the pandemic, said half of its leasing activity this year is already due to such operations that are likely to see a 20 per cent growth in 2020. It expects US e-commerce sales to raise the demand for industrial real estate to an additional billion square feet by 2025.#
“Since 2011, industrial rent growth has been positive and vacancy rates have been at historic lows providing attractive, stable, long-term returns to investors. These solid fundamentals and the fact that e-commerce still has a long runway for growth makes industrial real estate the darling of the commercial real estate industry,” said Craig Meyer, president, JLL Americas Industrial.
According to Digital Commerce 360, e-commerce sales hit $602 billion in the United States at the end of 2019.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)