2025 BUSINESS CLIMATE RANKINGS: Texas Tops Business Climate Rankings Again

United States cold storage is a specialized sector representing less than 2% of the overall industrial market, yet it is mission-critical infrastructure for U.S. consumption. Today, the property type is in a period of generational change. Average rents have grown more than 100% since 2020, yet vacancy has climbed to a two-decade high. This unusual pairing of surging rents alongside elevated vacancy reflects a market digesting a record level of new supply with a growing bifurcation between the modern space demanded by occupiers and an aging legacy base.

Today’s two-decade vacancy high contrasts sharply with the sector’s all-time low vacancy rate recorded just four years ago. The headwinds in this study of extremes include depressed food inventory levels, elevated grocery inflation, U.S. policy-related uncertainty and, most significantly, record volumes of new supply delivering to the market. The new supply comes after an unprecedented run-up in the pipeline over the past five years. Although the development pipeline has receded from record highs, it remains historically elevated at 7.4 million square feet.

Click here to read the original article from Area Development.