Boston, MA Industrial Market Report Q3 2026

Tenants Give Back 1.36M SF in Q3; Vacancy Rises to 9.1%

Demand

Boston posted net absorption of -1.36M SF in Q3 2026, against -927K SF in the same quarter last year. Vacancy is 9.1%, 110 bps looser than Q3 2025. Route 3/Southern New Hampshire is the tightest submarket at 4.8% vacancy; Route 128 West/ MetroWest leads rent growth at +2.0%. Trailing-12-month absorption of -3.44M SF compares with-3.65M SF a year earlier. Asking rent of $16.84/SF is up 1.6% year over year and within 1% of the Q2 2026 peak of $16.92/SF.

Supply

Boston delivered 140K SF in Q3 and 2.40M SF over the trailing twelve months (+15% versus the prior TTM period). Space under construction equals 0.6% of inventory, concentrated in Route 3/Southern New Hampshire at 1.7% of its stock. Annual deliveries peaked at 7.87M SF in 2024. Q3 deliveries were less than half of last year’s 287K SF.

Investment Market

Boston recorded $2.3B in sales over the trailing twelve months, +9% against the prior TTM period; Q3 accounted for $609M. The high-water mark in this series is $4.9B in 2021.

Boston cap rates average 6.64%, up for 19 straight quarters. Pricing sits at $199/SF, higher for 16 consecutive years. The cap rate is 103 bps above the Q4 2021 low of 5.61%. Price per SF is at a record.