Austin Industrial & Warehouse Market Report | Q2 2026

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Austin’s industrial market improved modestly in Q2 2026. Vacancy dipped 60 basis points to 22.3% as net absorption rose to 792,442 SF from 187,875 SF in Q1 as restated, and the construction pipeline kept shrinking. Vacancy is still high, with 24.0% of warehouse/distribution space empty. That gives tenants choice and negotiating room and leaves owners facing a slow lease-up.

Figures are from Cushman & Wakefield’s Q2 2026 Austin Industrial MarketBeat unless noted. Prior-quarter and year-ago comparisons use the figures as restated by C&W. Rents are net asking, quoted in $/SF/yr. C&W’s Austin inventory counts warehouse/distribution (86.6 million SF) and office service/flex (16.2 million SF) buildings that can be rented by a third party, with no manufacturing category, so its vacancy rate runs higher than broader measures. CBRE, which measures Austin on a different inventory base, puts Q2 2026 vacancy at 19.4%. Earlier editions of this report used other data sources, and their vacancy figures are not comparable with those below.

Market Snapshot: Q2 2026

Source: Cushman & Wakefield, Austin Industrial MarketBeat Q2 2026. Q1 2026 vacancy as stated in that report (C&W’s national table shows 22.8%); Q1 2026 rent and absorption and Q2 2025 vacancy as restated in C&W’s U.S. Industrial MarketBeat Q2 2026 metro tables. n/a = not restated in the Q2 reports.

Rent Trends: Down 3.0% on the Year to $11.78/SF

Overall asking rents averaged $11.78/SF/yr NNN in Q2 2026, down 3.0% from $12.14 a year earlier and little changed from $11.81 in Q1. Warehouse/distribution rents eased slightly to $11.48/SF/yr, and office service/flex rents declined to $14.83/SF/yr. C&W describes continued rent normalization across product types, while positive absorption suggests tenant demand remains healthy.

Warehouse rents in the four submarkets profiled below sit in a narrow band, from $10.70/SF/yr in Far Northeast to $11.08 in the Southeast. Smaller infill submarkets ask more; Central Austin is at $15.22/SF/yr.

Construction Pipeline: Down 31.3% to 4.6M SF

Austin had 4.6 million SF under construction at the end of Q2 2026, down 31.3% from 6.7 million SF a year earlier. Deliveries totaled 1.6 million SF year to date, bringing inventory to 102.8 million SF. The Southeast holds the largest share of the pipeline at 1.7 million SF.

Two of the largest projects underway, Point Forty-Five in Far Northeast (563,081 SF) and Burleson Tech Park in the Southeast (508,041 SF), list no major tenant in C&W’s report. The quarter’s largest completion, Mustang Ridge Building 2 in the Southeast (538,720 SF), also delivered without one.

Submarket Breakdown: Round Rock and Hays County Led Q2 Absorption

C&W tracks 13 Austin submarkets. Below are the three largest by inventory, plus Georgetown, which led the metro in leasing.

Southeast

The largest submarket at 17.6 million SF, with 24.8% vacancy and warehouse rents of $11.08/SF/yr. It gave back 122,335 SF in Q2 and 27,606 SF year to date, even though it drew several of the quarter’s larger leases: American Housing Corporation (233,781 SF), Poncho Outdoors (137,939 SF) and Atomic Semi (122,400 SF). It also has the most space under construction, 1.7 million SF.

Hays County

15.2 million SF along I-35 south of Austin. Vacancy is 21.0% and warehouse space asks $10.75/SF/yr. It posted 224,596 SF of net absorption in Q2, the second-largest gain in the metro, and has 409,206 SF under construction.

Far Northeast

13.5 million SF northeast of the city, at 19.2% vacancy and $10.70/SF/yr for warehouse space, the lowest of the four. Absorption has been flat at 8,277 SF year to date, and 815,081 SF is under construction, including the 563,081 SF Point Forty-Five project.

Georgetown

12.8 million SF in Williamson County with 32.9% vacancy, among the highest in the metro. Georgetown recorded 1,721,732 SF of leasing year to date, the most of any submarket, and returned to positive absorption of 94,538 SF in Q2. Year-to-date absorption is still −77,795 SF, so that leasing has yet to show up as occupied space. Warehouse space asks $10.73/SF/yr.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield, Austin Industrial MarketBeat Q2 2026, market statistics table.

Co-Warehousing & Flexible Warehouse Space in Austin

Austin’s fast-growing small-business population creates steady demand for small-format warehouse space. Flex is also the tighter segment. C&W puts office service/flex vacancy at 13.4% across 16.2 million SF, against 24.0% for warehouse/distribution, with an average asking rent of $14.83/SF/yr.

Typical flexible-space tenants in Austin include e-commerce operators, food producers and tech hardware companies, along with contractors and service businesses that follow the metro’s population growth.

Browse available co-warehousing and small-bay listings on WareCRE’s Austin marketplace.

Key Trends to Watch

1. Absorption Is Positive but Uneven

Round Rock led Q2 with 377,618 SF of net absorption and Hays County followed with 224,596 SF, while the Southeast gave back 122,335 SF. Metro absorption of 792,442 SF is an improvement, but it is small relative to a market with more than a fifth of its space vacant.

2. The Pipeline Is Shrinking

Construction fell 31.3% year over year to 4.6 million SF, and first-half deliveries of 1.6 million SF were modest. A smaller pipeline means less new vacant space coming to market. For context on how building size shapes leverage, see Small-Bay vs. Big-Box: What the Vacancy Gap Means in 2026.

3. Tesla’s 681,259 SF Lease Led the Quarter

Tesla signed the quarter’s largest lease, 681,259 SF at 11801 Decker Lake Rd in the East submarket. Austin’s economy supports continued demand. C&W ranks it the second-fastest-growing major market in the nation, with about 19,000 jobs added over the past year and unemployment at 3.5%, against 4.2% nationally.

Outlook: What to Watch in Q4 2026

C&W’s Q3 2026 MarketBeats are due in mid-October, with the year-end release to follow. C&W says it is “optimistic that leasing momentum will continue throughout the remainder of 2026.” The next two reports will show whether that holds.

Vacancy direction. A second quarterly decline from 22.3% would confirm the turn. With only 4.6 million SF under construction, supply is less of a headwind than it was.

Georgetown move-ins. Its 1,721,732 SF of year-to-date leasing is the largest of any submarket. Watch whether that leasing converts to occupancy, which would show up as absorption and lower vacancy.

Rent stability. Asking rents are down 3.0% on the year but nearly flat on the quarter. Watch whether warehouse/distribution rents stay near $11.48/SF/yr.

Data sources: Cushman & Wakefield Austin Industrial MarketBeat Q2 2026 (headline, submarket and product-type figures; warehouse/distribution and office service/flex inventory only; rents net asking, $/SF/yr); Cushman & Wakefield U.S. Industrial MarketBeat Q2 2026 (restated Q1 2026 and Q2 2025 figures and Texas metro comparisons; rents NNN); CBRE Austin Industrial Figures Q2 2026 (vacancy cross-check only). Each report reflects the most recent vacancy, rental, and construction data available at the time of publication. We refresh our reports as new market data is released, and we’re continually expanding coverage to additional metros.