Industrial real estate has recently seen massive growth and expansion. Commercial real estate professionals are having to develop new strategies for tenant relations,  staff development and even finding leaseable space. As eCommerce and the gig economy continue to become a regular fixture of day-to-day life, industrial real estate is going to become even more important to watch. The sector of the industry is growing quickly, so having a basic understanding of some of the trends that are being seen is vital. Here are three of the bigger trends driving change in industrial real estate.

Talent Acquisition & Staff development

Luci Smith with Link Logistics explained that one of the largest trends that has been impacting industrial real estate is that of acquiring and developing talent or staff. Currently, it is challenging to find recruit talent to the industrial real estate industry. It is hard to identify the reason, but some speculate that it could be due to barriers to entry such as poorly received outlooks on what industrial property managers do. The second part of this trend focuses on the problem of developing and training staff once they are finally acquired. It is important that this process is done correctly for the future of the industry. When thinking about development, it is important to think about what makes a good industrial property manager and how you want those qualities to be developed.

The Impact of E-Commerce

Natalie Tyler-Martin with Duke Realty defined another significant trend as the impact of e-commerce. The increase of e-commerce has led to an increased need for production and storage, therefore increasing the need for industrial space. This increase of e-commerce has also created issues for tenants within industrial spaces. Tenants are struggling to meet consumer demands for next day delivery. This further increases the need for logistics facilities within industrial real estate.

The Supply and Demand of Industrial Real Estate

Finally, it has been noted that there are seen in the supply and demand of industrial space. In general, there is a lack of industrial real estate. However, the demand for industrial real estate is way up. These shortages of space are leading to problems such as holding. Industrial property managers have to be creative in finding new ways to utilize their spaces to be able to work around these challenges. Commercial real estate professionals are finding new property types to repurpose and new areas of land to develop. This issue is going to demand innovative solutions.

To know where the future of industrial real estate is headed, it is important that we look at what is happening right now.