Dive Brief:

• The warehouse sector will achieve a net absorption of 655 million square feet between 2017 and 2019, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest North American Industrial Forecast Report. Such activity will be second only to the 833 million square feet seen between 2014 and 2016.
• Cushman & Wakefield’s findings are based on Moody Analytics data that indicate the market is being driven largely by internet retailers’ need for industrial space to carry out their fulfillment operations. In 2013, e-commerce made up less than 5% of North American new industrial leases — now that segment makes up 20% to 22%.
• By the end of 2019, 782 million square feet of warehouse space will hit the market, with developers and owners looking to take advantage of a 9.8% year-over-year annual growth rate in rents. The figure is more than twice the rate of rent increases for office space and marks highest growth increase of any property type.

Read the entire article in Construction Dive here.