The Lehigh Valley is known for its warehouses. Here’s how it ranks nationwide
Despite a cooling consumer market, the Lehigh Valley remains in the midst of one of the hottest warehouse regions in the U.S., according to a report commercial real estate company CBRE released Thursday.
Combined with the rest of Eastern Pennsylvania and the entirety of New Jersey, the overall market topped all other markets in big-box transaction volume in 2022 with more than 51 million square feet of leasing last year, the report says.
“The I-78/81 corridor, Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia remained active despite tremendous pandemic-driven demand finally slowing,” said Jake Terkanian, CBRE executive vice president. “The market’s strength is due to large population concentration, available land for development and significant logistics advantages. Vacancy rates remain low and rents are rising by more than double digits.
“CBRE projects another strong year for the market, as more imports shift to the East Coast and occupiers seek more warehouse space to protect inventories for the regional population,” Terkanian said.
The Southern NJ/Eastern PA market, which includes the Valley, ranked second in the nation with 521 million square feet of existing inventory, fourth in leasing activity at 32.6 million square feet and second in new construction with 45 million square feet of inventory added last year.
The region had a labor warehouse labor force of 165,000 that is expected to grow by 5% by 2032, according to CBRE. A nonsupervisory warehouse worker’s average wage is $17.77 per hour, 5% above the national average but 10% below Northern/Central New Jersey.
In CBRE’s latest quarterly numbers, released in January, the Lehigh Valley had 112.5 million square feet of inventory with 5.2 million square feet under construction. The vacancy rate was 3.5%.
Also cited in the report was Lehigh Valley International Airport, which was ranked as one of the fastest-growing cargo airports in the U.S. by Airport Council International. In its March report, LVIA said 23.6 million pounds of air cargo was processed, an increase of 31.7% from March 2022.