Record Periods of Gross Absorption for Industrial Assets in Mexico City

Since March 2021, there are two international airports (AICM and AIFA) for cargo and passenger transportation. Additionally, this region stands out for being the metropolis with the highest population in Mexico, with an approximate of 20 million inhabitants.

Prior to 2019, the market experienced significant growth in industrial buildings, driven by the continuous demand for square meters by foreign companies establishing themselves and the expansion of existing ones, mainly for warehouse use. It's worth noting that 2020 was the year with the lowest absorption since 2019. 

This was partly due to the COVID-19 health crisis, which in turn would drive the demand for new spaces, due to the growth of e-commerce and investment by startups in the same sector and logistics. This growth would initially be seen in Mexico City and later in other states. 

However, in 2021, the market had the highest monitored gross absorption with 1,133,820 m2, and as of the first quarter of 2022, approximately 250,000 m2 have been absorbed, representing a 7% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

In Mexico City's industrial market, some of the main tenants belonging to the sectors mentioned previously, and who absorbed the largest number of square meters during 2021, were: Amazon in the Vallejo-Azcapotzalco and CTT submarkets in spaces managed by PARKS and O'Donnell. Mercado Libre in the Tlalnepantla and CTT submarkets, located in parks developed by Litos, who also has 69% of LEED-certified warehouses. As well as DHL in the CTT submarket within a park owned by Grupo Advance.

With the rapid growth of these and other companies in the same or related sectors, the demand for last-mile spaces focused on submarkets such as Iztapalapa, Vallejo, Naucalpan, and Tlalnepantla. Competition arose among them in terms of who offered the best and fastest service, leading them to search for smaller spaces ranging from 1,000 m2 to no more than 5,500 m2, to store a few products. Some of these companies include Mercadeo, 99 minutos, Joker, Rappi, Baz Entregas, Paquete Express, Fedex, Nutenta, etc.

For this year, in the CTT submarket, for example, developer O'Donnell will deliver a build-to-suit (BTS) property of approximately 25,000 m2 to Estafeta, a logistics services company. Additionally, according to information provided by Expansión, this company will migrate its operations from AICM to Nextlalpan.

This move reflects the dynamics and evolution of the industrial market in Mexico City, driven by the increasing demand for logistics spaces and the development of tailored solutions to meet the needs of companies in this sector.