The pandemic has spurred tremendous ecommerce activity. In fact,some CRE players are calling the market boost the silver lining ofthe pandemic, and a clear benefit to ecommerce players. A recentreport from CBRE noted that the pandemic push hascatalyzed as much as 500 million square feet of new industrialdemand in the US—but it will take years for to provide that newsupply to the market.

"It will take years.  Infill markets are already builtout with a very high level of occupancy," KurtStrasmann, executive managing director of CBRE's OrangeCounty and Inland Empire operations as well as CBRE's pacificsouthwestern functional industrial and logistics market leader,tells GlobeSt.com. "This means developing new product will benecessary, which is not easy to do in infill markets, such as LosAngeles and Orange County. It is therefore my and our firm's beliefthat areas such as the Inland Empire will continue to thrive withnew development for years to come due to the availability ofbuildable land."

Highly populated and dense markets, like Southern California,will be prime targets for the new demand—but these regions arealready suffering from industrial supply shortages and limited landfor new development. As a result, Strasmann says that there couldbe a supply shortage in the short-term for industrial product whilethe market, yet again, adjusts to heightened needs for industrialspace. "Right now, we are seeing a short-term interim pause onbusiness decision making in general due to the COVID crisis butthis will pass as we gravitate to the new normal, which is changingin real time," he says.