On the left-hand side, we show year-over-year rent growth in the U.S. industrial landscape. As you can see, industrial rent growth did not take as much of a hit as the other real estate sectors at the onset of the pandemic, as demand for data centers and warehouses remained high. Since then, we have seen a steady acceleration in industrial rents.
The chart on the right shows the growth in industrial establishments along with the steep drop-in vacancy rates. Warehouse growth has picked up over the last five years as online shopping grows and retailers set up warehouses locally, closer to the end consumer. However, the next wave of industrial property growth is likely to be in data centers, highlighted in blue, as data becomes the preeminent commodity.