In North America, after hitting peak rates in 2010, warehouse vacancy rate dropped to 9.72% in 4Q 2011 due to the growth of manufacturing and distribution industry.
Looking ahead, the outlook on global warehouse market trends positive. The International Monetary Fund recently forecasted that global trade volume would rise by 3.8% and 5.4% in 2012 and 2013, respectively, despite downward adjusted economic growth. Thus, greater demand for warehouse space is expected with the rising global trade. As warehouse rents in the majority of Asia Pacific and North American markets in 2011 were higher compared to the previous year, Colliers expects this rising trend to continue in most markets of these two regions in the coming year.