Boston, ma Encompass Real Estate Strategy Inc. released Steel 2016.2, the company’s report covering Greater Boston’s commercial industrial real estate market for the second quarter of 2016.  The report can be accessed by clicking https://ecs.re/steel20162.

Tenants in Greater Boston’s industrial real estate market exhibited strong demand patterns as 338,000 sf was absorbed across both manufacturing- and warehouse-type properties for the quarter-ended June 30, 2016. 

Vacancy for the property types dipped to 7.5% from 7.8%, extending a 12-year low mark which was first set last quarter.  Positive demand activity was, however, fully concentrated in warehouse-properties, which saw 360,000 s/f of absorption.

“Demand remains robust for high quality assets across both the manufacturing and warehouse property sectors” said Brendan Carroll, director of intelligence, who went on to emphasize lower observed vacancy rates for better quality assets across both property sectors.  Carroll went on to allude to the diverse nature of demand for manufacturing space in the region “we are seeing demand for high quality manufacturing space from the biotechnology industry spur new construction.”

This quarter’s “OTB” feature focuses on the Panama Canal expansion project, the first major expansion of the canal since it opened in 1914, which was completed this year and opened to ships in June.  The canal is expected to have a major impact on logistics and to change demand for ports on the coasts of the United States, including Boston, which will be able to handle ships that can navigate the new, larger canal locks.

Steel 2016.2 is a member of the Spectrum family of reports, greater Boston’s leading resource for commercial real estate information and analysis.  With more than a dozen materials published on a quarterly basis, Spectrum is the thought leader in Greater Boston real estate research and analysis.