Red Hot Industrial Market – RENJ Feature

No slowing down: Growth of e-commerce, last mile delivery and the densest state in America

Written By Kristian Cichon, ME, BE, Director of Acquisitions – Deugen Development , Published on RE-NJ.com
The New Jersey industrial market has continued on its historic pace with vacancy rates dropping below 3 percent across the state. This has been driven by the unprecedented demand from online retailers and e-commerce-driven businesses desperate for warehousing and “last mile” distribution. E-commerce had already been on a rapid ascent for years with its share of the total retail market more than quadrupling since 2010. With the pandemic shuttering most brick-and-mortar locations for the better portion of 2020, e-commerce had taken on another level of growth. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, sales increased 31.73 percent year over year, the fastest growth rate in 10 years, nearly doubling the second-highest growth rate of 17.81 percent in 2011.