New Jersey’s industrial real estate market has enjoyed a great year.

Most of the independent research groups have reported that 2016 was the best all-around year for the New Jersey industrial market in over a decade. The uptick was no doubt partially due to its logistic proximity to New York City, which also had a fantastic year.

An Industrial Bull Market
Some Quick Stats
■ NGKF reported 1.7 million square feet were absorbed during the fourth quarter of 2016.
■ The increase in rented space caused the availability rate to go down to 8.7%, from 8.8% in the previous quarter — the lowest rate in 10 years.
■ NGKF found average asking rents increased to $7.11 per square foot, from $6.83 in Q3 2016.
■ They also reported a 13.8% annual increase in average asking rent from 2015’s Q4.
■ Transwestern reported that Q4 was the 15th consecutive quarter of positive net absorption, the longest stretch to date.
■ Cushman & Wakefield reported an overall vacancy of 5% for Q4 2016.
■ Cushman & Wakefield also reported a historically low vacancy rate of 4.5% for warehouse and distribution spaces.
■ Cushman & Wakefield reported a 4% increase in the rental cost from Q3 to Q4, bringing the average to $7.75 per square foot at the end of the year.
■ Cushman & Wakefield found an asking rent increase of 15.5% since the close of 2015.
■ JLL reported 6.9 million square feet under construction, in addition to 4.2 million square feet of speculative construction.
■ NGKF reported that 11.3 million square feet is under construction — more than double the amount one year ago.

More Results
■ The JLL research group reported 10.2 million square feet of net absorption for 2016, representing the highest annual net absorption since 2001.
■ Transwestern’s research team found 24 out of 25 industrial submarkets had an annual rent increase, with 60% of annual positive absorption occurring in central New Jersey.
■ Cushman & Wakefield reported that approximately 4.2 million square feet of industrial product was built during 2016, 27.3% more than a year ago.
■ Cushman & Wakefield reported that there have been 10 deals of 200,000 square feet or greater of warehouse space.

E-commerce demands further development
■ Every single year, e-commerce as a percentage of retail sales has increased over the past 10 or so years.
■ Amazon increased its footprint in the Garden State to almost 1.5 million square feet in 2016 according to JLL.