Q1'24 Warehouse Pricing Index Report
Industrial vacancy rates rise. Warehouse services pricing remains flat. U.S. east coast container shipping rates soar. Inventories normalize. New disruptions arise.
The year 2024 is off to a fast start. The Suez Canal and Red Sea disruptions are causing ripple effects across the global supply chain and forcing shippers of all sizes to resort to contingency plans to get inventory into the states.?
Industrial real estate vacancy rates hit 5.2%, marking the highest vacancy rate in the last 3 years but still remains below the pre-pandemic average. Retail inventories have returned to normal levels and appear that the majority of businesses have reverted back to the just-in-time inventory (JIT) approach. Warehouse services pricing has seen marginal increases but is expected to rise throughout the year as a large subset of industrial leases are set to expire in the next 18 months. Though inventories continue to trend downward, costs to lease warehousing space continue to rise, which led to historically similar general rate increases to round-out 2024. With the upward pressure expected to continue, this is an opportunistic time for businesses to take a holistic approach to re-evaluating their warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution strategies to lock-in attractive rates and develop custom solutions to support future business growth.
Report contributors:
Chief Executive Officer
1 年The 3pl warehouse market seems to be working through a few changes. Traditionally slow Q1, lower inventory volumes, more first time 3pl users in the market. What does "normal" look like anymore.
Chief Marketing Officer at WarehouseQuote
1 年Thank you Chris Rogers and Mathew Leo for contributing to the Q1 WarehouseQuote WPI. Your insights are extremely valuable and we appreciate your support.