The Lehigh Valley Is The Second-Fastest-Growing Industrial Market On Earth
Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley is among the best-positioned markets for distribution centers in the country, and its rent growth is proving it is no secret.
A new study by CBRE found the Lehigh Valley has the second-fastest rent growth for prime industrial and logistics properties of any global market, at 10% year-over-year. That ranks behind only the Seattle area, with 16.9% rent growth. Prime rents are defined as the highest achievable rents for the best properties in a given market.
Thanks to the continued, meteoric rise of e-commerce in the retail universe, distribution centers are among the hottest commodities in all of commercial real estate. With easy access to New York and Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley is uniquely positioned to take advantage.
Demand for distribution centers may be at a fever pitch, but supply has been constrained by cautious lending practices after the Great Recession. In the Lehigh Valley's case, an increasingly tight labor pool is another limiting factor to the amount of industrial deliveries, only driving rent up further.
Overall, North America is the continent with by far the fastest prime industrial rent growth, boasting three of the top five markets in this regard — Oakland sits at 9.4% in the past year, just behind Sheffield/Leeds in the U.K. at 9.5%. Asia retains the highest prime industrial rents in the world.
