Steve Dodds

During the first quarter of 2022, the Portland Industrial market saw only 365,200 square feet of net absorption, despite a need for more industrial assets. This need continues to be driven by Warehouse-Distribution product as supply chain challenges reveal a need to keep more safety stock closer to consumer.

With 1.9 million square feet of net absorption, the Portland market reflected a continued need for industrial assets, particularly in Warehouse-Distribution product, which accounts for more than 80% of net absorption. With supply chain challenges revealing the need to keep more safety stock closer to consumers, Portland will continue to show strong fundamentals in Warehouse-Distribution product. While Warehouse-Distribution was strong, in the Sunset Corridor/Hillsboro the nearly completed Hitachi Center of Excellence at 3600 NW Huffman fetched $57.5 million (294 per square foot), when developer Trammell Crow sold it to Principal RE Investors. While the valuations look favorable for Portland’s industrial real estate market, a lack of available land near the population centers will continue to limit growth. Increasingly, developers need to look further north, in SW Washington and further south, in Marion/Polk Counties to find suitable land for development.

Portland’s lack of available industrial land continues to push market activity to the fringe of the metropolitan area. The lone delivery this quarter is a 90,000 square foot owner-user warehouse in Canby, Oregon, which is 30 minutes south and east, but still strategically close to the ever-important I-5 Corridor. With 2020’s above average new supply (more than 3.5 million square feet of new industrial space) being occupied, vacancy is beginning to turn from a high of 5.1% in the first two quarters of this year back down toward 4.0%. With limited expected deliveries this year and next, vacancy is likely to remain in this range for the foreseeable future. The largest sale by transaction value this quarter was $16.2 million, a fully leased 100,000 square foot distribution center that was sold off-market for institutional capital in the traditionally tertiary Orchards submarket. As industrial product remains a highly desirable asset for investment, buyers will have stiff competition and sticker shock as prices continue to trend upwards.