· Covers 3Q 2026 · Data as of October 2026 · Ironmark research
Tampa industrial vacancy was 8.3% in 3Q 2026 (data as of October 2026), and average asking rent was $11.35 per SF per year, according to Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief.
Tampa Bay’s older buildings blinked first in 3Q 2026. Vacancy (the share of space that is empty) held at 8.3%, up 1.1 pts in a year. Occupied space slipped in the third quarter, at (25.2K) SF: tenants moved out of a little more space than they moved into. Asking rents average $11.35/SF a year. Across all buildings, rents fell 0.7% in 12 months, the first yearly drop since 2011, as owners of existing space cut their asking rents. About 3.58M SF is being built (the middle figure of other firms’ reports), most of it with no tenant yet. About $1.4 billion of property sold over the year, with Pinellas taking the largest share, and the cap rate (the yearly return from rent, as a % of the price) is 7.6%.
See how Tampa compares with Florida’s other industrial markets in the statewide market data table.
The bottom line: older buildings blink first.
- For tenants: East Tampa & I-75 has 1.43M SF being built, only 8% already leased, after occupied space there fell 728K SF in 12 months.
- For owners: older buildings are cutting asking rents; across all buildings, rents fell 0.7% in 12 months, the first drop since 2011.
- For buyers: Pinellas drew $589M of the $1.4B of sales in 12 months, with just 128K SF being built; buyers are paying for scarcity.
What happened in Tampa industrial in 3Q 2026
Four threads defined Tampa and St. Petersburg over the past year: occupied space barely changed, most of the empty space is in warehouse and distribution buildings, older buildings cut rents, and most of what is being built has no tenant yet.
- Move-ins and move-outs cancel. Occupied space (space tenants moved into, minus space they moved out of) changed by just +12.8K SF in 12 months: flat for a market with 230.6M SF of industrial space. Pasco (up 689K SF) and the Plant City corridor (up 568K SF) gained; East Side fell 1.22M SF and South Pinellas 426K SF.
- Warehouses hold the empty space. Warehouse and distribution space, nearly 160M SF, is 9.2% vacant; 10.5% is available (empty, or occupied but marketed for lease). Flex space (small office-and-warehouse units) is 7.8% vacant; specialized industrial (manufacturing, cold storage and similar) 5.6%. Across all space: 8.3% vacant, 9.5% available.
- Two rent stories. Asking rents (what landlords ask) average about $11.35 per SF a year, up from a year ago. Across all buildings, rents fell 0.7%, the first yearly drop since 2011; Downtown Tampa fell most.
- Most of what is being built has no tenant yet. The middle figure of other firms’ third-quarter reports puts 3.58M SF being built. In our area data, only 34.9% is already leased before it is finished. East Side holds 1.36M SF at 6.4% leased; Pasco’s 793K SF is 79.5% leased, led by Amazon at North Tampa 75.
Tampa industrial by area, 3Q 2026
Demand moved to the edges. Ironmark reads Tampa Bay as five zones. Over 12 months, occupied space rose 1.30M SF in Pasco-Hernando and Plant City and fell 728K SF in East Tampa & I-75; that zone has 59% of the space being built, only 8% already leased. Pinellas has just 128K SF being built.
| Zone | Share of all space | Being built, SF | Change in occupied space, past 12 months, SF | Vacancy (% empty) | Rent vs market average | Share already leased |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinellas | 32% | 128K SF | (291K SF) | 7.2% | +8% | 37% |
| Tampa core & airport | 16% | 43K SF | (267K SF) | 8.0% | +11% | 100% |
| East Tampa & I-75 | 29% | 1.43M SF | (728K SF) | 7.5% | -4% | 8% |
| Plant City & I-4 | 12% | 10K SF | 571K SF | 8.3% | -20% | 25% |
| Pasco-Hernando | 11% | 793K SF | 728K SF | 14.9% | -6% | 80% |
| Tampa Bay overall | 100% | 2.40M SF | +12.8K SF | 8.3% | — | 35% |
All industrial buildings, data as of October 2026; zones and zone totals: Ironmark analysis. Change in occupied space = space tenants moved into minus space they moved out of over the past 12 months; (parentheses) = a drop. Rent vs market average = each zone’s asking rent, weighted by building size, against the Tampa Bay average. Share already leased = share of the space being built that is leased before it is finished. Area figures count every project in the source data, so they total less than the market consensus above (the middle figure of other firms’ reports). Zones: Pinellas = South and North Pinellas; Tampa core & airport = Westshore/Airport, Downtown Tampa, NW, SW and NE Hillsborough/University; East Tampa & I-75 = East Side, SE Hillsborough; Plant City & I-4 = E Hillsborough/Plant City, Eastern Outlying; Pasco-Hernando = Pasco and Hernando counties.
Where you sit drives the rate. Among the seven largest areas, North Pinellas asking rents run 11% above the market average and the Plant City corridor 22% below. Pasco’s 18.4% vacancy is the highest; North Pinellas is tightest at 5.8%. Occupied space rose most in Pasco and the Plant City corridor and fell most on the East Side.
Tampa industrial capital markets: sales volume, pricing and cap rates
Pinellas took the capital. About $1.4 billion of Tampa industrial sold over the past 12 months, against a long-run yearly average near $580 million. The money went across the bay: South Pinellas had 138 sales worth roughly $518 million, more than any other area; the East Side followed at $359 million. The typical sale price (the middle of all sales) is $165/SF, and the cap rate (the yearly return from rent, as a % of the price) is 7.6%. Buyers favored leased buildings and fix-up buildings in built-out areas, led by one large Pinellas portfolio of single-tenant buildings and small units (a few thousand SF each).
A Pinellas portfolio set the tone. GID Industrial Advisors’ ten-building South Pinellas purchase, about 1.08M SF built 1997 to 2003, sold for $192 million, $178/SF. Hines paid $56.1 million, $135/SF, for a fully leased 1975 East Side park at 1820 Massaro Blvd. Capital is following scarcity: with just 47,000 SF being built in South Pinellas against 60M SF of industrial space, leased buildings there are hard to replicate, and buyers are pricing them that way even as older-building rents soften. Expect Pinellas to keep drawing buyers while the East Side finds tenants for the new buildings it finished without them.
Ironmark’s read on Tampa industrial
What Ironmark is seeing in the Tampa industrial market in 3Q 2026, beyond the reported numbers.
“Tampa’s existing buildings are cutting their asking rents while new space holds price. If your lease ends in the next two years, negotiate; don’t renew on autopilot.”
Across all buildings, Tampa and St. Petersburg rents fell 0.7% over the past year, the first annual decline since 2011, and 10 of 13 areas slipped, Downtown Tampa most at 3.5%. Quoted asking rents read differently: they average about $11.35/SF and rose on the year, as new space in small units asks mid to high teens. The cuts are in existing buildings, where owners have taken $0.50 to $1.00/SF off their asking rents. Free rent and other incentives are growing too: about half a month free per lease year and $30 to $35/SF of landlord-paid build-out on move-in-ready space. For tenants in older space: price your renewal against the building down the street and get the build-out money in writing. For owners: meet the market early. A vacant month costs more than a $0.50 trim.
— Matthew L. Phillips, SIOR · (561) 621-5466
“Pinellas is where the money went. South Pinellas drew about $518 million of Tampa’s $1.4 billion in trades. The land-locked peninsula, not the new-build corridor, set the pace.”
Over the past 12 months, South Pinellas had 138 sales worth about $518 million of the market’s $1.4 billion, at an 8.0% cap rate (the yearly return from rent, as a % of the price) and $154/SF. The anchor was GID Industrial Advisors’ $192 million purchase of ten warehouses in Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg, about 1.08 million SF built between 1997 and 2003, at $178/SF. Buyers are paying for scarcity: South Pinellas has just 47,000 SF being built against 60 million SF of industrial space, so the single-tenant buildings and small units in town that they bought are hard to replicate. If you own in central Pinellas, buyer demand is deep right now and worth testing. If you are buying, check the rents tenants pay today honestly, because rents across all buildings in the area still slipped 0.8% in a year.
— Troy Schaafsma, SIOR · (561) 621-5489
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the industrial vacancy rate in Tampa?
Industrial vacancy (the share of space that is empty) in Tampa Bay was 8.3% in 3Q 2026 (data as of October 2026), up 1.1 points in a year, according to Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief. Warehouse and distribution buildings hold most of the empty space at 9.2% vacant, and Pasco County is the highest of the larger areas at 18.4%.
What does warehouse space rent for in Tampa?
Asking rent for Tampa industrial space was about $11.35 per SF per year in 3Q 2026, plus the tenant’s share of taxes, insurance and upkeep. That is the middle figure of other firms’ third-quarter reports, per Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief. Across all buildings, rents fell 0.7% in 12 months, the first yearly drop since 2011, as owners of existing buildings cut their asking rents by $0.50 to $1.00 per SF.
How much industrial space is being built in Tampa?
About 3.58M SF of industrial space was being built in Tampa Bay in 3Q 2026, the middle figure of other firms’ third-quarter reports, according to Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief. In the area data, East Tampa and the I-75 corridor hold 1.43M SF of it, only 8% already leased.
What are industrial buildings selling for in Tampa?
The typical Tampa industrial sale (the middle of 492 sales over the past 12 months) was $165 per SF, and the cap rate (the yearly return from rent, as a % of the price) was 7.6%, per Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief. About $1.4 billion sold, and South Pinellas drew roughly $518 million of it.
Where did Tampa industrial demand go in 2026?
Occupied space across Tampa Bay (space tenants moved into, minus space they moved out of) was about flat over the 12 months to October 2026, at +12.8K SF according to Ironmark’s 3Q 2026 Tampa Industrial Brief. It rose in Pasco County and the Plant City corridor and fell 728K SF in East Tampa and the I-75 corridor.
Buying, selling, or leasing in Tampa? See Ironmark’s Tampa Bay industrial brokerage, or read every Florida market brief.
Get the full Tampa brief.
The complete PDF includes the zone and area tables, the top sales and leases, the largest buildings being built, the most active buyers, and our market outlook. Prepared by Ironmark — free, no obligation.
Ironmark Florida Industrial Brief — Tampa Edition. Ironmark Capital Advisory’s own analysis and commentary, covering 3Q 2026, data as of October 2026. Sources: the third-quarter change in occupied space, asking rent and space being built are the market consensus: the middle figure (median) of third-quarter 2026 Tampa Bay reports from CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark (Lee & Associates and Avison Young add Polk County and are left out). From this edition the headline asking rent is the middle figure of other firms’ third-quarter reports; earlier Ironmark briefs used an estimate covering every building, which runs higher, so the two are not directly comparable. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area jobs, Sep 2026, preliminary); U.S. Census Bureau (county population, Vintage 2025); Ironmark analysis (zones, zone totals, share already leased by zone, commentary and the principals’ takes). Figures are believed reliable but not guaranteed; informational only and not tax, legal, or investment advice. © 2026 Ironmark Capital Advisory. Main line (561) 621-5450.