Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Logistics real estate rents dropped in 2024 after decade of growth

chart of rent growth

Despite stumble, year-end 2024 market rents were 59% higher in the U.S. and 33% higher in Europe than pre-Pandemic levels, Prologis says.

Global logistics real estate rents drooped in 2024 as an overheated market reset after years of outperformance, according to a report from real estate giant Prologis.

By the numbers, global logistics real estate rents declined by 5% last year as market conditions “normalized” after historic growth during the pandemic. After more than a decade overall of consistent growth, the change was driven by rising real estate vacancy rates up in most markets, Prologis said. The three causes for that condition included an influx of new building supply, coupled with positive but subdued demand, and uncertainty about conditions in the economic, financial market, and supply chain sectors.


Together, those factors triggered negative annual rent growth in the U.S. and Europe for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, the “Prologis Rent Index Report” said. Still, that dip was smaller than pandemic-driven outperformance, so year-end 2024 market rents were 59% higher in the U.S. and 33% higher in Europe than year-end 2019.

Looking into coming months, Prologis expects moderate recovery in market rents in 2025 and stronger gains in 2026. That eventual recovery in market rents will require constrained supply, high replacement cost rents, and demand for Class A properties, Prologis said. In addition, a stronger demand resurgence—whether prompted by the need to navigate supply chain disruptions or meet the needs of end consumers—should put upward pressure on a broad range of locations and building types.

More Stories

An illustration of a two-lane road with a question mark in the center.

2025 Logistics Outlook: Cautious optimism tempered by tough realities

The year 2024 was by all accounts one of struggle and perseverance for supply chain practitioners. No one was immune, from shippers and their third-party service providers, to the truckers providing freight capacity, brokers managing transportation, and technology providers seeking to deliver the next big tech innovation.

At this time last year, many in the industry thought the back half of 2024 would provide at least a ray of hope for a rebound. However, 2024 came to a close with many of the same pressures and challenges that marked its beginning.

Keep ReadingShow less
A photo of the inside of a retail store. In the foreground is a sign that says "Pick up online orders here." In the background is two women at a cash register in a checkout lane.

Retailers should take advantage of their brick-and-mortar locations not only to satisfy the growing demand for “buy online pickup in store” but also to support microfulfillment efforts for e-commerce.

By Wallpaper via Adobe Stock art

Build the store of the future with “buy online, pick up in store” and microfulfillment

Retailers are increasingly looking to cut costs, become more efficient, and meet ever-changing consumer demands. But how can they do so? The answer is updating their fulfillment strategy to keep pace with evolving customer expectations. As e-commerce continues to dominate the retail space and same-day delivery has become the norm, retailers must look to strengthen their “buy online pick up in store” (BOPIS) and microfulfillment strategies to stay ahead.

BOPIS allows customers to order online and pick up items at the retailers' brick-and-mortar location, and microfulfillment involves housing a retailer’s products closer to the consumer to improve delivery times. While these strategies each serve different purposes, both are centered around getting the product closer to the consumer to ensure faster fulfillment. By combining the two, retailers will be primed to meet customers’ needs—now and in the future.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of sectors leasing warehouse space

3PLs claim growing share of large industrial leases, CBRE says

Third-party logistics (3PL) providers’ share of large real estate leases across the U.S. rose significantly through the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same time last year, as more retailers and wholesalers have been outsourcing their warehouse and distribution operations to 3PLs, according to a report from real estate firm CBRE.

Specifically, 3PLs’ share of bulk industrial leasing activity—covering leases of 100,000 square feet or more—rose to 34.1% through Q3 of this year from 30.6% through Q3 last year. By raw numbers, 3PLs have accounted for 498 bulk leases so far this year, up by 9% from the 457 at this time last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Image showing a hand drawing a line with arrow sweeping upward. Standing on the line is an icon of a business person steering a helm.

Change management: An existential supply chain capability?

Supply chains are subjected to constant change, and the most recent five years have forced supply chain professionals to navigate unprecedented issues, adapt to shifting demand patterns, and deal with unanticipated volatility and, to some extent, “black swan” events.

As a result, change management has become an essential capability to help improve supply chain operations, support collaboration both internally and with external partners, deploy new technology, and adapt to sometimes continually changing market pressures. Recognizing this importance, the 2025 Annual Third-Party Logistics Study (www.3PLStudy.com) took an in-depth look at change management. The majority of respondents to the study’s global survey—61% of shippers and 73% of 3PLs—reported that the need for supply chain change management is either critical or significant.

Keep ReadingShow less
Image of a truck driving down the center of an aisle of racking with boxes on pallets.
HASAN via Adobe Stock

JIT's not dead

“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain said this about himself in 1897, but 127 years later the same sentiment could be applied to the concept of just-in-time (JIT) inventory management.

During the supply chain crunch of 2020–2021, firms struggled to build up inventories sufficient to meet demand. This led to speculation that firms should move away from JIT management and toward a just-in-case (JIC) model. The subsequent rapid buildup of inventories then resulted in the opposite problem in 2022. Inventories spiked up to near-record levels, and measures needed to be taken to reduce inventories, leading directly to the contraction of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in Q2 of that year. It took over a year to correct the inventory overages, meaning the traditional peak season did not materialize in 2023, as firms continued to run inventories down.

Keep ReadingShow less