TAMPA, FL—The US industrial market is hitting on all cylinders. The vacancy rate dipped to its lowest point in nearly 14 years in the closing months of 2014. One Florida city ranks in the top five—and it's not Miami.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, 2014 marked a year of progress punctuated by strong leasing totals, impressive occupancy gains and healthy rent growth. The firm's fourth quarter 2014 research findings reflect the sector's continued expansion.

“The industrial real estate market expansion has been driven, in part, by the ongoing evolution of demand-driven and information-enabled supply chains,” says Cushman & Wakefield's John Morris, leader of Industrial Services for the Americas. “Responding to dynamic changes to how people shop, where they work, and how and where they live, new models and new requirements continue to emerge.

“An improving economy, the expansion of e-commerce and the growth of domestic manufacturing further fueled the rapid advancement we witnessed during the past year,” he continues. “In almost every market, industrial property demand continues to surpass supply.”

The overall industrial vacancy rate ended 2014 at 6.8%—the lowest level since the first quarter of 2001. Vacancies dropped 70 basis points year over year and 400 basis points from the recent peak of 10.8% in early 2010. Today, four markets boast vacancy rates of under 4%, including California's San Francisco Peninsula (3%) and Greater Los Angeles (3.4%); Lakeland, FL (3.7%); and Orange County, California (3.7%).

“Leasing reached its highest level since 2005,” says Morris. “Nineteen of the 38 markets Cushman & Wakefield tracks posted increased activity year-over-year, and 14 markets recorded double-digit gains.”

Strong demand drove 340.3 million square feet of industrial leasing activity in 2014, a rise of 3.6% over 2013. Top performers include Atlanta, which was up 51.5% year-over-year. Atlanta saw 16.1 million square feet of industrial absorption and has 15.3 million square feet of industrial development underway.

How will the Internet shake up industrial? Brian Leary, president of Crescent Communities' commercial and mixed-use group, tells GlobeSt.com 20 years ago, industrial development was really more about business-to-business logistics.

“With the explosion of high-speed Internet service in homes and the likes of Amazon, Zappos and eBay talking about same-day delivery, a good part of Atlanta's current industrial interest relates to the businesses associated with serving consumers,” he says. “With close to 6 million people in the region, that's a lot of customers to serve if you're trying to go from a mouse click to a package on a front stoop in 24 hours. Upwards of 30% of industrial demand is coming from the need to provide service to consumers today.”