Inland Empire Industrial Holds Strong in First Quarter

The Inland Empire industrial market held strong through the first quarter. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has shown up in some quarterly reports for other asset classes; however, research from Kidder Mathews show the Inland Empire did not show any signs of slowing at the start of the year, despite the disruption. The quarter closed with industrial vacancy down 20 basis points to 4% and net absorption of more than 6 million square feet, including a 1.2 million-square-foot lease signed by Kimberly-Clark Corp.

“We had pretty good momentum from the fourth quarter of 2019 into 2020, and we have had three years of very strong metrics and momentum that has carried us year-over-year into a very positive climate and activity,” Dave Burback, SVP and managing director of Kidder Mathews’ Inland Empire office, tells GlobeSt.com. “If you broke the quarter down into thirds, the first two months of the year were very positive. It started to take a toll in March.”

The industrial sector, in general, is widely expected to outperform other asset classes through this crisis—although experts are quick to remind that no asset class will be unscathed. If that is the case, the Inland Empire’s industrial market is the best-positioned geographic market in the nation. “The Inland Empire will benefit from this trend more than any other geographic region in the country,” says Burback. “It not only has the largest ports in the country but it has the ability to expand distribution capacity, specifically in the ecommerce arena.”