The results of an IPG square foot per person (SF/person) industrial study found significant growth in Salt Lake County to 118 SF/person even as flex and retail space shrinks.
Salt Lake County is set to see a 6% increase of industrial SF/person this year with a record 10 million SF set to be delivered. From 2012 to 2017, industrial SF/person remained steady until, in 2018, a 1.9% rise broke the trend. For the next 3 years, the growth per person rose by an average of 2% but the market has remained underwhelmed so far as vacancies lowered to 2% within that time period. Utah's industrial supply as a whole also saw gains over the past years but the rapid growth of the state has kept the average statewide SF/person increases surprisingly conservative even with 2021's significant construction deliveries in Salt Lake County.
There is evidence of multiple reasons that Salt Lake County has been growing so quickly; increased centralization for shipping to Utah consumers, the change from retail to online fulfillment, companies switching from just-in-time to just-in-case shipping strategies, re-shoring of manufacturing from overseas, and increases in inland port shipping through Utah facilities to exterior states. These contributing factors could all be responsible for increased industrial SF per person.