U.S. industrial leasing up 14% Q1

U.S. industrial leasing picked up again in the first quarter, but the headline is less about a broad-based rebound than about where demand showed up. CBRE said leasing rose 14% year over year to 249.8 million square feet in Q1 2026, with mega big-box facilities above 1.2 million square feet posting the strongest gains. (cbre.com) JLL’s separate first-quarter read pointed in the same direction. (jll.com) The firm said industrial leasing activity increased 17.8% year over year to 145.2 million square feet across its tracked markets, and that leases for spaces of at least 500,000 square feet surged 80.7% from a year earlier. (cbre.com) That matters because a market led by very large requirements behaves differently from one driven by smaller tenants. CBRE said small- and mid-sized formats saw less activity in Q1, even as overall fundamentals stabilized. ### If leasing was up, was it broad demand or mostly big boxes? (cbre.com) CBRE’s April 23 report said the largest facilities were the main source of momentum. The firm said mega big-box buildings above 1.2 million square feet drove leasing gains, while smaller formats lagged. JLL framed the same shift through tenant behavior. (jll.com) It said the quarter was driven by consolidation into more efficient facilities and by a “flight-to-quality” trend, with 71.6% of executed leases counted as new leases. Cushman & Wakefield had flagged the same pattern earlier this year. (cbre.com) In a March 11 report, the firm said demand for warehouses larger than 500,000 square feet had rebounded after a slowdown in 2023 and 2024, with 3PLs and manufacturers accounting for nearly two-thirds of that activity. ### What happened to rents while leasing improved? JLL said national industrial asking rents rose 0.8% year over year in Q1 to $10.34 per square foot. The firm described that as modest growth as landlords balanced competition with newer inventory quality. (jll.com) Cushman & Wakefield’s national report put asking rents at $10.20 per square foot in Q1, up 2.1% from a year earlier. The different figures reflect differing market coverage and methodology, but both point to rent growth that has turned positive rather than accelerating sharply. (ir.cushmanwakefield.com) CBRE’s national summary did not publish the same asking-rent figure in the excerpt available through search, but it said rent growth returned for the first time since 2024. (jll.com) ### How should Los Angeles-area landlords read that national benchmark? CBRE’s Los Angeles first-quarter figures showed asking lease rates at $1.21 per square foot per month, triple net, with vacancy at 5.4% and availability at 8.1%. The market posted 934,025 square feet of positive absorption, its first positive quarter since 2022, according to CBRE. CBRE’s Inland Empire report showed a different picture. (assets.cushmanwakefield.com) The firm said asking lease rates in the Inland Empire Core averaged $1.09 per square foot per month, triple net, in Q1 2026, while new deals signed rose 40.2% from the prior quarter and 15.3% from a year earlier. (cbre.com) Those local figures suggest the national rebound should not be read as a clean pricing reset for Southern California. Colliers said Greater Los Angeles asking rents fell to $1.20 per square foot per month in Q1, down 8.1% from a year earlier, even as gross activity rose 22% from the prior quarter. (cbre.com) ### Does stronger leasing mean landlords have regained pricing power? Vacancy data says not uniformly. CBRE put national industrial vacancy at 6.7% in Q1, while JLL put it at 7.5%, levels that still reflect more available space than during the tightest post-pandemic stretch. (cbre.com) Southern California remains tighter than the national average, but availability has risen enough to keep negotiations active. CBRE said Los Angeles availability climbed to 8.1%, and Colliers said the widening gap between vacancy and total availability left occupiers in a stronger negotiating position than earlier in the cycle. (colliers.com) ### What should readers watch next? CBRE said construction completions slowed to 55.4 million square feet nationally in Q1, though they still outpaced absorption, while the construction pipeline increased 7.5% from the prior quarter. JLL said new construction starts remained relatively flat and vacancy should begin trending downward as supply is absorbed. (cbre.com) The next test will come in second-quarter market reports from CBRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, which will show whether big-box demand broadens into smaller formats and whether Los Angeles-area concessions narrow as leasing volumes build. (cbre.com 1) (cbre.com 2)