Chicago Industrials See Strong Demand

CHICAGO—The Chicago-area industrial market had a solid year, as strong tenant and investor demand drove down the vacancy rate 81 bps during 2013, according to a recent report by Colliers International. Furthermore, although total leasing activity was relatively flat compared to 2012, demand from big-box users pushed up the amount of net absorption and builders more than doubled their output.

“The Chicago area industrial vacancy rate fell to 8.70 percent at year-end 2013 — a significant decline from the 9.51 percent vacancy rate reported one year ago,” the researchers find. It was the second consecutive quarter that vacancy was less than 9.0%.