Private Money411 Magazine - The Source for Real Estate Finance PRIVATE MONEY411 - BAMF | Page 25
Five growth drivers in 2018
1. THE THREE T'S OF TRUMP TRADE,
TAX AND TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE operations mature, tenants will seek smaller distribution
centers closer to urban cores, but finding the right
location will become challenging.
While there is no explicit strategy being released
from the White House, the dominos seem to be falling
in a way that suggest 2018 is the year for major
infrastructure legislation. Trade agreements are being re
negotiated and the tax bill is released, so the doors
could open for infrastructure. The urbanization of U.S.
cities cannot continue with functionally obsolete roads,
bridges and other infrastructure. The recent bridge
collapse in Florida confirmed these challenges. As
upgrades are planned, raw materials will be needed and
warehouses to store them. 4. CONTINUED INVESTMENT IN THE
DARLING OF U.S. REAL ESTATE.
2. E – COMMERCE CONTINUES TO
SET RECORDS.
Online shopping and consumer demand for rapid
delivery is changing what, where, and how many
distribution centers are needed to feed the consumer e
commerce beast. Ecommerce continues to be the
fastestgrowing sector. In 3Q 2017, nearly 25 percent of
total U.S. leasing demand came from ecommerce
companies expanding their existing market footprints.
3. URBAN LOGISTICS MOVE CLOSER
TO THE CUSTOMER.
Investor interest is higher than ever, as institutional
capital still views industrial property as a lucrative
investment opportunity. Investment sales are up 34.7
percent this year and there is a resurgence in industrial
real estate portfolios.
5. THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION IS WELL UNDERWAY.
The robots aren't coming—they are already here.
Humanfree warehouses are a long way off, but
sophisticated automation is becoming a feature of today's
industrial buildings. It's already possible to offload goods
from a truck, put them on a pallet and onto a different
truck with barely a helping hand from a human being. At
the same time, drones equipped with sensors can now
scan barcodes for inventory purposes, safely restock and
pick merchandise on high shelves, and move small items
quickly around the warehouse. Automation within the
warehouse is an important emerging trend that will
continue to develop. This will reshape how warehouses
are designed and how they are used.
These five factors and smart infrastructure
investment could nurture economic growth,
which is especially needed in cities and states
that have lost economic momentum with the
decline of manufacturing.
Investing in exportrelated infrastructure is
also critical to balance trade deficits and would
especially benefit agriculture, capital goods and
energy, which are the most competitive sectors of
the U.S. economy.
In a bid to narrow the gap with brick and mortar
stores, ecommerce and its related logistics companies
are looking to accelerate their investment in "lastmile"
warehouse spaces. Global and domestic tenants are
expanding their presence beyond a single mega
warehouse facility to multiple U.S. nodes, using
logistics space to extend their reach to connect with
customers. At the same time, distribution models are
changing and location strategy is more focused on
proximity to labor and customers. As ecommerce
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