Q2 2025 Fort Lauderdale Industrial Market Report

 

Key Highlights

• Properties between 10,000 to 50,000 square feet make up more than 80% of leasing activity across Fort Lauderdale.
• The metro’s rents have increased by over 57% since 2019.
• Large portfolio deals are aiding sales metrics, with institutional investors accounting for a majority of these transactions.

 

By the Numbers

• Sales Volume: $453M
• Average Sale Price Per SF: $244
• Vacancy Rate: 5.5%
• Rent Growth: 2.6%
• Average Market Asking Rent Per SF: $20.69
• SF Under Construction: 1.5M
• SF Delivered: 5K | Q2 2025 | Source: CoStar Group, Inc.

 

Market Overview

Fort Lauderdale is a standout for industrial activity, due to its large population and convenient location. Port Everglades is particularly notable for the metro’s industrial sector as it ranked as the third-largest port in Florida based on total import and export of TEUs in 2022. However, absorption across the metro recently noted decreased levels. Tenant move-outs from transportation and warehousing firms attributed to this slowdown, causing vacancy to increase. New construction is likely to drive up vacancy even more, with four properties over 100,000 square feet underway at the end of 2024. These larger facilities will likely take longer to lease, as demand is now shifting towards smaller properties under 50,000 square feet.

 

Rents | Vacancy | Construction

Due to the slowdown in demand, vacancy rose each quarter since the start of 2024, with a 5.5% vacancy rate at the end of Q2 2025. Most recent absorption has been driven by newer product, with a focus on properties built since 2015. Smaller properties are recording the greatest demand levels, but they remain undersupplied. Despite decreased absorption levels, rents are around $20 per square foot—one of the highest rents in the state. Due to increased demand for smaller facilities, properties from 10,000 to 100,000 square feet record rents at $18 per square foot; meanwhile, larger assets over 100,000 square feet note rents at $14 per square foot.

 

The bulk of new construction for properties over 100,000 square feet is located in the Southwest Broward submarket. The largest property underway here is greater than 280,000 square feet, and is set to deliver in September. Due to new supply for these larger facilities, they record an availability rate of 60%, which accounts for over 1.5 million square feet of available space. Moving forward, elevated financing prices are likely to keep construction activity slow, aiding fundamentals.

 

Vacancy Rate

Source: CoStar Group, Inc.

 

Market Asking Rent per SF & Rent Growth

Source: CoStar Group, Inc.

 

Fort Lauderdale Sales

An increase in cap rates led to a stabilization in pricing, with lower-end cap rates in the 5% range. This is an uptick from the low-end 3% cap rates recorded two years ago. Sales volume also notes stabilization from the prior boom in 2021-2022, with a total $1.5 billion in deals over the past 12 months. A majority of this activity is driven by institutional investors, which returned to the market in 2023. One of the most notable deals by an institutional investor this quarter included Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust’s purchase of a three-property portfolio. It was purchased from Blackstone for over $120 million, or over $263 per square foot. The deal involved around 450,000 square feet of space, with the largest building totaling over 290,000 square feet.

 

Q2 2025 Sales Volume: $453M

 

Sales Volume & Market Sale Price per SF

Source: CoStar Group, Inc.

 

Submarket Highlights