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INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW: ACTIVITY, GROWTH CHECKED BY HIGH INTEREST RATES Industrial market performance across North America continued to downshift in the first half.  Although net absorption remains positive, demand for industrial space has fallen to the lowest levels in years as higher interest rates to reduce inflation also slows economic growth. Net absorption in the United States totaled 23.9 million SF in the first two quarters. It was down from 80.3 million SF for the same…

GDP GROWTH: The nation’s gross domestic product slowed in the first quarter, increasing at an annual rate of 1.6%, the lowest growth since early 2022. The Q1 output of goods and services was weaker than expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 2.4%. In the fourth quarter of 2023, GDP was up 3.4%. The Department of Commerce also said the personal consumption expenditures price index – a key inflation…

INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW: POLICY AND MARKET PRESSURES SHAPE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH Interest rate hikes by central banks aiming to tame inflation and tenants battling supply-chain and other issues continue to slow industrial demand across the United States and Canada. One difference between the two neighbors, though, is consumer behavior on discretionary spending. When Canadians shut their wallets as the Bank of Canada began raising rates in 2022, the buying habits of U.S. households hardly changed. The Commerce…

GDP GROWTH: The nation’s gross domestic product expanded at a 3.3% annual rate in the fourth quarter. The quarterly output exceeded the Wall Street consensus estimate of a 2% gain. It also capped a year in which the U.S. skirted a recession that many forecasters thought was inevitable. GDP grew at a 4.9% pace in the third quarter. The U.S. economy for all of 2023 accelerated at a 2.5% annualized pace, well ahead of forecasts…

INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW: RENT GROWTH REMAINS STRONG DESPITE SPUTTERING DEMAND Demand for industrial space in North America sputtered in 2023, hobbled by a host of post-pandemic economic and supply-chain issues. Among them were declining imports, retailers caught with surplus inventories and slumping receipts for furniture, appliances and building materials from a 12-year low in home sales. Additionally, there were wide expectations for an economic recession. Net absorption totaled 164.8 million SF in the United States in…

GDP GROWTH: The U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter and the most in nearly two years, fueled by strong consumer spending in spite of higher interest rates, inflation pressures and other domestic and global headwinds. Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 4.9% annualized pace from July through September, more than double the 2.1% pace of the second quarter, the Commerce…

INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW: ABSORPTION CONTINUES SLOWING, INVENTORIES TO SPIKE Demand for industrial space remained positive in the United States and Canada in the third quarter, but growth this year has lost steam compared to strong net absorption totals of the last two years. U.S. net growth in the third quarter totaled 29.9 million SF compared to 94 million SF for the same period last year.  Year-to-date net absorption is 110.2 million SF, down 62% from the…

Since 2013, the rise of e-commerce has caused such an enormous boom in industrial real estate that it has become the preferred asset class of many commercial real estate investors. At the heart of the e-commerce revolution has been Amazon. Even before the pandemic, the firm had around 192 million square feet of warehouse, data center, and distribution space across the U.S. and Canada. Since the pandemic, it has added over 220 million square feet…

In June and July of this year, the Fed raised the interest rate at the fastest pace in forty years: it raised the federal funds rate 75 basis points at each open market committee meetings. Why did it do so, and what do its actions and current economic data say about the economy? This report will investigate and answer these questions, as well as explore the thinking that is guiding the Fed’s policies and explain…