Richmond is facing an increasing supply crunch for large, modern distribution space, according to an Avison Young report released Thursday.
“Threatened by high land costs and an overall lack of supply, Metro Vancouver’s biggest industrial market could face a heightened challenge in the long term to stay relevant to the significant logistics users increasingly coming to dominate the region’s industrial real estate market,” states the Spring 2012 Richmond Industrial Report.
The report found that Richmond continues to have one of the lowest industrial vacancy rates in the region at about 4%.
“Overall vacancy is expected to tighten further through 2012 as the limited new industrial product is purchased or leased up in short order and large development sites increase in scarcity and value,” it stated.
The report noted, however, that despite the decline in vacancy, Richmond’s industrial lease rates are not expected to rise.
Last month, an Avison Young report described a supply crunch in B.C.’s commercial real-estate market. (See “Supply crunch slows B.C.’s commercial real estate: Avison Young” – BIV Business Today, February 27.)
