SoCal Industrial Growth, No Anomaly

John Vanbuskirk

The Eastern Pennsylvania industrial market is mirroring Southern California’s industrial activity. With similar fundamentals and port proximity, both markets have seen tremendous growth in the last few years. The Eastern Pennsylvania market currently has a 5.85% vacancy rate and 20.1 million square feet under construction, while the Los Angeles submarket has a 1.2% vacancy rate and the Inland Empire market has a 3.6% vacancy rate and the combined markets have more that 35 million square feet under construction.

“When the market started to pick-up a few years ago, it started to pick up in the Inland Empire and Eastern Pennsylvania,” Brian Knowles, a principal at Lee & Associates Eastern Pennsylvania office, tells GlobeSt.com. “If you look at the dynamics of those two markets, there are population growth, access to ports, rail infrastructure and the network available to population density. The dynamic between those markets is interesting because it is the same names, same investors and tenant occupiers in the two markets.”