Report: N.J. led nation in total sales volume for industrial space in 1Q

Yardi CommercialEdge –

New Jersey topped the nation in total sales volume for industrial space during the first quarter of 2025 totaling $832 million, according to data from real estate data compiler Yardi CommercialEdge. The state also led the Northeast region with yearly rent growth of 11.3%. 

The $832 million in transactions in New Jersey by the end of March was a 60% increase from the $520 million registered a year earlier. Dallas, with $711 million in total sales volume, was second.

The New Jersey market also posted one of the highest industrial sale prices nationally at $256 per square foot, more than doubling the $126 per-square-foot national average. The yearly rent-growth figure of 11.3% lifted in-place rent to $11.74 a square foot. This compares with national in-place rents for industrial space averaged $8.44 per square foot in March, up 6.7% year-over-year.

The report said the strong demand for industrial space in New Jersey is because of the population density of the surrounding region and the robust activity at the Port of New York and New Jersey, one of the nation’s busiest ports.

The market’s biggest sale so far this year was Prologis’s $166.8 million acquisition of 201 Middlesex Center Blvd. in South Brunswick — a 600,000-square-foot warehouse —  from ARC Realty, which is on more than 30 acres one mile east of Interstate 95. CommercialEdge said that deal boosted Prologis’ footprint in New York and New Jersey, which was more than 55 million square feet in September 2024.

Despite vacancy rates of 9.6% that surpass the national average of 8.5%, the market had the strongest industrial rent growth over the last 12 months. Like most other markets, New Jersey underwent a supply boom in recent years, but the authors of the report believe slowing development and continued demand will lead to falling vacancies once leasing velocity picks up. Between 2022 and 2024, more than 36 million square feet, or 5.9%, of stock of new industrial space was completed in the market. There are just 6.2 million square feet (1% of stock) under construction.

Other takeaways from the report:

• E-commerce finished 2024 with $1.19 trillion in total sales, following an 8% year-over-year growth. 
• Online sales account for 19% of core retail sales, reinforcing the increasing need for warehouse space across the U.S. 
• Sun Belt markets outpaced port cities in rent growth, with Nashville (10.2%), Atlanta (9.5%) and Miami (9.2%) seeing some of the nation’s highest industrial rent increases.