SUTTON REALTY ADVISORS
SAVANNAH, GA
TRENDS & INSIGHTS
Q2 2026
10.2%
VACANCY RATE
3.2 M SF
YTD ABSORPTION
2.1 M SF
NEW SUPPLY
4.9 M SF
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Savannah industrial market posted a modest 3.2 million square feet of year-to-date absorption through Q2 2026. Elogistek’s 406,656 square foot new lease at Terminal East and Elogistics’ 320,320 square foot expansion at Coastal Trade Center led leasing activity, while Shaw Industries’ 832,000 square foot renewal was the quarter’s largest completed lease transaction.
New deliveries of 2.1 million square feet slightly outpaced absorption in Q2, pushing vacancy up to 10.2%. Tenant demand remains intact, though deal execution slowed in the small and mid size segments. With several requirements over 500,000 square feet currently in the market, bulk demand continues to accelerate into Q3 and Q4.
Looking forward, the Port of Savannah’s expansion plans remain the market’s demand engine, with throughput projected to eclipse 8 million TEUs by 2032 through the execution of infrastructure investments already in place. In the near term, Savannah will steadily rebalance industrial supply and demand, as bulk transactions in particular pick up through the remainder of 2026.
TRENDS & INSIGHTS
Q1 2026
9.8%
VACANCY RATE
1.9 M SF
YTD ABSORPTION
1.2 M SF
NEW SUPPLY
4.2 M SF
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Savannah industrial market posted a positive Q1 2026 absorption gain of 1.9 million square feet. Whirlpool’s 1.1 million square foot new lease with Capital Development Partners and US Elogistics’ 320,000 square foot new lease with Trammell Crow were the main contributors to Q1’s absorption.
New deliveries for Q1 totaled only 1.2 million square feet. This led to a slight vacancy rate reduction, which now stands at 9.8%. New construction starts are beginning to increase, but are still relatively low, with 4.2 million square feet under construction. Current user demand in the market is very strong, particularly for properties larger than 1 million square feet.
Looking forward, the Port of Savannah will increase its TEU capacity from a current throughput of 5.7 million TEUs annually to over 8 million TEUs by 2030/2031. The Georgia Ports expansion plans through continued investments will secure the Port of Savannah’s place as the gateway to the South and the third largest port in North America.
TRENDS & INSIGHTS
Q4 2025
10.4%
VACANCY RATE
6.8 M SF
YTD ABSORPTION
1.2 M SF
NEW SUPPLY
4.0 M SF
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Savannah Industrial Market posted a Year-End 2025 Annual Absorption total of 6.8M (vs. 5.8M SF for Atlanta), reflecting a strong year compared with the U.S. national and Southeast regions. While overall performance remained healthy, Q1 and Q4 experienced lower signed lease volumes than in recent years, with approximately 850,000 SF of lease transactions completed in Q4. Savannah currently has just over 16M SF of vacant space, mostly represented by new speculative deliveries from the past 18 months. Vacancy in the Savannah Industrial Market peaked in Q2 2025 at 11.4% before declining to 10.4% by year- end. Reduced tariff uncertainty, an increasing national GDP, the re-emergence of onshoring, combined with minimal new construction deliveries, should help stabilize rents and reduce speculative vacancy over the first half of 2026.
The majority of the leases completed in 2025 were infill locations or second-generation buildings, where tenants took advantage of reduced rates for older bulk properties. Meanwhile, newly delivered Class A speculative space with further travel distances to the port is currently experiencing downward pressure on rental rates.
Bulk space (300K SF–1.2M SF) represents the most recent prospect activity and contributed to a large portion of Savannah Industrial’s 2025 net absorption. Domestic tenants have also re-emerged after having been dormant in 2023–2024. Two well-known U.S. retailers are expected to finalize transactions in Q1 2026, each over 1M SF, generating solid leasing momentum for Savannah upon completion.
Hyundai’s continued expansion has lowered vacancy in the I-16 submarket to under 6% and has also led to continued TEU volume growth for the Georgia Ports Authority. The 2025 TEU volumes for the Port of Savannah totaled 5.7M. By 2032, the Georgia Ports Authority is expecting TEU volume max capacity to exceed 12M with its current expansion plans and approved investments by the State of Georgia. This bodes very well for industrial developers that are teeing up projects this year to accommodate future demand.
TRENDS & INSIGHTS
Q3 2025
10.7%
VACANCY RATE
5.2 M SF
YTD ABSORPTION
2.1 M SF
NEW SUPPLY
3.7 M SF
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Savannah industrial market posted 1.5M SF of net absorption in Q3 2025, with 2.1M SF of new spec construction deliveries to the market and minimal move-outs. Through Q3 2025, year-to- date absorption totals 5.2M SF (vs. Atlanta’s 2.4M). Nine leases were signed in Q3 for a total of 2.5M SF. Year-to-date, 5.7M SF of new leases have been signed with an average transaction size of 214,000 SF. The overall Savannah industrial inventory grew by 19% to 162.4M SF over the last 12-month period. Savannah continues to lead the U.S. industrial market for growth based upon annual absorption as a percentage of market size.
The vacancy rate currently stands at 10.7%, down from 11.4% the previous quarter. As tariff uncertainty subsides, several large users are expected to re-enter the Savannah market. New deliveries for the remainder of 2025 will be at their lowest levels since 2017. The lack of new supply moving forward is expected to propel positive absorption and lower vacancy significantly in 2026.
Rental rates for Class A space have remained flat during 2025, with most concessions being granted in the form of free rent. Rental rates in the Class A category continue to diverge from the second- generation Class B sector (half-tilt or all-metal). As rental rates for Class A hold firm and begin to climb, Class B rents have consistently dropped in 2025, even for infill locations. This trend is expected to continue both in Savannah and nationally as users upgrade to higher-quality modern facilities.
The Georgia Ports Authority continues to show resilience in 2025, with 4.3M TEUs being handled through September 2025, up 5% from the end of Q3 2024. March, April, and May 2025 made up three consecutive months of TEU volumes over 500,000 per month for the first time on record. TEU volume projections are expected to exceed 8M by 2030. GPA will invest $4.5B over the next 10 years to expand its container-handling capabilities, which will translate to continued strong growth for the Savannah industrial market.
TRENDS & INSIGHTS
Q2 2025
11.4%
VACANCY RATE
3.7 M SF
YTD ABSORPTION
4.7 M SF
NEW SUPPLY
4.3 M SF
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Savannah industrial market posted 1.1M SF of net absorption in Q2 2025, despite 4.7M SF of new spec construction deliveries to the market and several large move-outs. Year-to- date absorption totals 3.7M SF (vs Atlanta’s 0.3M SF). The total Savannah industrial market inventory has increased year-over-year by 24M SF (17.5%), from 137M SF at the end of Q2 2024 to 161M SF at the end of Q2 2025.
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The vacancy rate currently stands at 11.4%, up 120 bps from the previous quarter. Buildings greater than 500,000 SF represent 41% of the 18M Total SF of vacant space. When tariff uncertainty subsides, several large users are expected to re-enter the Savannah market, which would quickly bring vacancy back to single digits before year-end. New deliveries for the remainder of 2025 will be at their lowest levels since 2017. The lack of new supply moving forward is expected to propel positive absorption and lower vacancy into 2026.
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Rental rates for Class A space have remained flat during 2025, with most concessions being granted in the form of free rent. Rental rates in the Class A category are well surpassing the second-generation Class B sector (half tilt or all metal). This trend is expected to continue both in Savannah and nationally as users upgrade to higher-quality modern facilities.
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The Georgia Ports Authority has shown resilience in 2025 with over 2.5M TEUs being handled through May of 2025, up 8% from the end of Q2 2024. March, April, and May of 2025 had three consecutive months of TEU volumes over 500,000 per month for the first time on record. TEU volume projections are expected to exceed 8M by 2030. GPA has invested $1.2B in its facilities in the last 10 years and plans to invest another $2.5B over the next 10 years to expand its container handling capabilities, which will translate to continued strong growth for the Savannah Industrial Market.