Columbus, OH Industrial Market Report Q3 2026
Completions Fall 41% as Rent Reaches a Record $8.64/SF
Demand
Columbus absorbed 3.22M SF in Q3 2026, against 6.61M SF in the same quarter last year. Vacancy is 6.0%, 105 bps tighter than Q3 2025. Delaware County is the tightest submarket at 1.0% vacancy; Airport leads rent growth at +4.8%. Trailing-12-month absorption of 9.61M SF is down from 11.67M SF a year earlier. Asking rent of $8.64/SF is up 3.6% year over year and a record.
Supply
Columbus delivered 1.74M SF in Q3 and 6.04M SF over the trailing twelve months (-41% versus the prior TTM period). Space under construction equals 6.0% of inventory, concentrated in Morrow County at 20.7% of its stock. Annual deliveries peaked at 19.06M SF in 2023. Q3 deliveries were 83% above last year’s 950K SF. The 23.71M SF pipeline equals about ten quarters of absorption at the trailing pace.
Investment Market
Columbus recorded $2.7B in sales over the trailing twelve months, +80% against the prior TTM period; Q3 accounted for $968M. The high-water mark in this series is $2.8B in 2021.
Columbus cap rates average 6.74%, down for 8 straight quarters. Pricing sits at $102/SF, higher for 16 consecutive years. The cap rate is 83 bps below the Q1 2015 high of 7.57%. Price per SF is at a record.
Volume
- $2.7B TTM volume (+80% YoY)
- Q3 2026: $968M
- Series peak $2.8B (2021)
Pricing
- Cap rate 6.74%
- Price per SF $102
- Caps compressing 8 quarters running
