Industrial Leasing In GTA Continues To Accelerate
Leasing activity in the GTA industrial market continued to accelerate in the third quarter, according to Avison Young’s new Industrial Market Report, Greater Toronto Area.
Overall industrial availability rate across the market maintained positive momentum as it dropped quarter-over-quarter by 50 basis points to 2.7%, and 70 bps year-over-year, according to the report. GTA Central posted the lowest availability rate at 2%.
Even though more than 6.7M SF of new supply has been added to the market during the past five quarters, availability has decreased 70 bps in that time period.
Average net asking rents rose slightly quarter-over-quarter to $6.63/SF across the GTA. The highest average net asking rent was found in GTA North at $6.99/SF. GTA East continued to be the most affordable market with an average net asking rent of $5.36/SF.
The market experienced almost 4M SF of positive absorption in the third quarter.
“Developers are purchasing blocks of land and proposing new buildings to meet the steady demand for new product,” the report said.
Highlights included Oxford Properties Group’s acquisition of 242 acres of industrial land in Milton, with the ability to build up to 3.3M SF. First Gulf and Sun Life Investment Management also announced their Metro East Business Park in Toronto’s northeast end. The park is 64 acres with the ability to accommodate up to 1.5M SF.
In all, the roster of third-quarter completions totaled 370K SF. Most of this new space was the result of Mississauga’s new Kuehne + Nagel facility at 6280 Millcreek Drive (204K SF) and Anatolia Capital Corp.’s 114K SF at 6500 Kitimat Road.
Looking ahead, the report said 3.4M SF of industrial space is under construction in the GTA. Eighteen GTA properties have more than 250K SF available.
