Inland Empire industrial space, negotiated from the tenant's side.
The largest industrial market in the country, and the one where the gap between asking rent and effective rent is widest right now. Rents have fallen twelve straight quarters. Landlords are competing on free rent and improvement allowances rather than face rate, which is exactly the condition where a tenant with options does well.
Where the leverage sits right now.
Asking rent fell below $1.00 NNN in Q2 2026 for the first time since 2021, settling at $0.99 on the Colliers basis. That is down 39 percent from the Q2 2023 peak. A tenant renewing on a lease signed in 2022 or 2023 is almost certainly above market, and the renewal conversation should start there.
The three firms disagree on the direction of demand, which matters. Colliers records positive net absorption of 3.1M sq. ft. for the quarter, its first improvement in over a year. Cushman & Wakefield records occupancy losses of 3.8M sq. ft. through mid-year. The difference is the building set each tracks and the period each measures. Read both before accepting a landlord's claim that the market has turned.
Roughly 6M sq. ft. remains under construction on both the CBRE and Colliers counts, well below the 2022 peak. Supply is still arriving, but the pipeline is thinning. The leverage available today on a big-box requirement is better than it is likely to be in eighteen months.
What the major brokerages report.
Each firm tracks a slightly different building set, and in some markets a different metric, so the figures differ. We show all of them rather than average them, because an average of three different definitions describes nothing. Where the spread matters to a negotiation, we say so above.
| Firm | Quarter | Vacancy | Asking rent | Net absorption | Under construction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colliers colliers.com | Q2 2026 | 7.8% | $0.99 NNN | +3.1M sq. ft. | 6.1M sq. ft. |
| CBRE cbre.com | Q2 2026 | 7.4% | $1.08 NNN | n/a | 6.2M sq. ft. |
| Cushman & Wakefield cushmanwakefield.com | Q2 2026 | 8.8% | n/a | -3.8M sq. ft. YTD | n/a |
Reach, infrastructure, and labor.
Share of the US population within 450 road-equivalent miles (one-day ground) and 1,000 miles (two-day ground) of the market center, computed against population-weighted centroids of all 3,125 US counties (2020 Census). Bands approximate FedEx and UPS Ground zone tables within roughly 10 percent and are for comparing markets, not quoting transit times.
Sources: ofis.trade.gov
Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025; LAUS and CES 2026. Wage is the mean hourly wage for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (OEWS 53-7062) in the metro area.
Where the buildings are.
The Ontario, Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga core. Closest to the ports and to Ontario International. Colliers put asking rent here at $1.09 NNN in Q2 2026, flat for the second straight quarter.
Moreno Valley, Perris and Redlands. Where most of the large modern bulk has been built. Colliers put asking rent at $0.91 NNN in Q2 2026 and still softening, so the deepest concessions are here.
Victorville, Hesperia and Apple Valley, up the I-15. Lowest occupancy cost in the region. Drayage from the San Pedro Bay ports runs up here every day, so the real question is cost per container and how much of a driver's hours a round trip consumes, not whether same-day is possible.
The operations that choose Inland Empire.
We represent tenants and buyers only. No landlord listings in Inland Empire, so every building in the market is a candidate and every negotiation is on your side of the table. See the operations we serve.
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