Portfolio Series: FTSE Nareit Industrial vs. All Other Industrial Owners

FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial vs. All Other Industrial Owners — A CompStak Portfolio Scoring Comparison
As the third release of a new 2025 series, CompStak is evaluating and comparing the leased industrial space of all landlords comprising the FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial index, against all other landlords in CompStak’s data, using CompStak’s data-driven scoring methodology to determine which set of property owners performs better across key landlord-focused metrics identified by CompStak.
The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index is a widely used benchmark that tracks the performance of publicly traded equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own and operate property in the United States. It measures how companies that own and operate income-producing real estate perform in the stock market and includes all major real estate sectors, including industrial, office, retail, residential, lodging/resorts, healthcare, self-storage, timberland, telecommunications, data centers, gaming, and specialty. Within the broader index, the FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial Index tracks REITs whose primary assets are industrial and logistics real estate, such as warehouses and distribution centers. The industrial index comprises the following:

• 13 REITS including (in descending order by equity market capitalization): Prologis (PLD), EastGroup Properties (​​EGP), Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. (REXR), Lineage (LINE), First Industrial Realty Trust (FR), STAG Industrial (STAG), Terreno Realty Corporation (TRNO), Americold Realty Trust (COLD), LXP Industrial Trust (LXP), Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR), Plymouth Industrial REIT, Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (ILPT),  and Modiv (MIDV)1
• Market Capitalization: (as of 12/31/25): 174,873.1 (In Millions), which is 12.7% of the market capitalization of the equity REITs overall in Nareit2

This analysis compares the active leased portfolios of Nareit industrial landlords with those of all other landlords in CompStak’s national dataset, many of which are privately held institutional owners rather than publicly traded REITs. Among these non-REIT owners, the largest landlords in CompStak’s industrial leasing data include a mix of private equity real estate managers, institutional asset managers, and sovereign wealth investors.

Key Findings:

• Overall Score: FTSE Nareit Industrial landlords narrowly outperform all other industrial owners overall, earning a final portfolio score of 52.2 vs. 51.3 and leading in four of six leasing performance metrics analyzed.
• In-Place Rents: In-place rents are similar across both ownership groups, with Nareit Industrial tenants paying an average of $9.16 per square foot, just 2.1% higher than the $8.97 average across all other landlords, despite a slightly smaller share of newer, modern buildings.
• Rent Spread: Nareit Industrial portfolios show slightly stronger mark-to-market rent upside, with market lease rent estimates averaging 21.2% above current in-place rents, compared with 20.4% for all other landlords.
• Concession Strategy: Nareit landlords structure leases with slightly lower concessions, including shorter free-rent periods (2.4 vs. 2.6 months) and smaller tenant improvement allowances ($3.15/SF vs. $4.65/SF).
• In-Place Rents: Rent growth since 2019 has been meaningfully stronger for Nareit Industrial portfolios, with average starting rents rising 82.8% compared with 63.3% for all other landlords, contributing to higher overall portfolio performance scores.
• Lease Term Stability: All other industrial landlords maintain longer lease terms, with a weighted average remaining lease term of 51.8 months vs. 44.6 months for Nareit Industrial, indicating slightly lower near-term rollover risk outside the REIT segment.
• Tenant Quality Score: Tenant quality scores are nearly identical, though Nareit Industrial edges slightly ahead (0.47 vs. 0.46) due to a marginally higher share of large and publicly traded tenants.
• Employment Exposure: Both portfolios show slightly negative weighted employment exposure, reflecting industrial tenant concentrations in sectors such as transportation and warehousing, where employment declined slightly year over year.

 Why Compare Nareit Industrial Landlords to All Other Landlords?

The U.S. industrial sector has experienced strong growth in recent years, driven by e-commerce expansion, supply chain restructuring, and continued demand for modern logistics space. A significant share of the institutional ownership of this sector is concentrated among publicly traded REITs represented in the FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial Index.
This index includes some of the largest industrial landlords in the U.S., including Prologis, Rexford Industrial Realty, Lineage Logistics, EastGroup Properties, and STAG Industrial, whose portfolios collectively represent a large share of modern logistics space across major U.S. markets.
From an investment perspective, the FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial Index has also delivered strong performance. Its annual returns have outperformed the broader FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index, the NCREIF ODCE Index, and the S&P 500 in three of the past eight years, including 2025, tying the S&P 500 for the most annual outperformance over this period. Within real estate benchmarks, industrial REITs have outperformed the broader equity REIT index in six of the past eight years.
Comparing the leasing performance of these Nareit Industrial landlords with that of all other landlords in CompStak’s industrial dataset provides insight into whether large institutional REIT owners are achieving different leasing outcomes than the rest of the market, especially as industrial fundamentals normalize following several years of record demand and rent growth.

Portfolio Overview – FTSE Nareit Industrial vs. All Other Properties 

In this analysis, CompStak evaluates the current industrial space in the portfolios of the FTSE Nareit Industrial REITs and All Other Industrial Owners nationwide. Some of the markets where both groups have a significant footprint include Los Angeles–Orange County–Inland Empire, Chicago Metro, Dallas–Fort Worth. Worth, Philadelphia–Central PA–DE–Southern NJ, Atlanta, and New Jersey–North and Central. Here are some key comparisons of their portfolios in CompStak’s data:

Nareit Industrial Narrowly Outperforms on In-Place Rents Despite Slightly Lower Share of Newer Buildings

Current tenants of landlords comprising Nareit’s industrial index are paying an average weighted annual rent of $9.16 per square foot, just 2.1% higher than the $8.97 per square foot in-place rent for all other non-Nareit landlords.


This narrow spread is also reflected in only modest differences in the share of active leased space located in newer buildings (built in 2010 or later) and modern buildings (with ceiling heights of at least 32 feet). Non-Nareit landlords have a slightly higher share of their active leased industrial space in these newer, modern buildings, at 42.7%, compared with 39.6% for Nareit Industrial.

Nareit Industrial Leads on Market Rents, Suggesting Stronger Potential Near-Term Growth

According to CompStak lease data, the spread between estimated starting rents and current in-place rents is positive for both Nareit Industrial landlords and all others, indicating potential near-term rent growth.
Within this context, FTSE Nareit industrial properties show a slightly higher spread (21.2%) compared with all other landlords (20.4%). This suggests that Nareit industrial assets could capture more of the current market upside, while non-Nareit industrial properties have a lower, albeit still positive spread over current rents. Overall, both segments demonstrate potential for near term rent growth when comparing estimated starting rents today as compared to in-place rent, reflecting sustained demand for the industrial sector.

Efficient Lease Structuring: Nareit Industrial Offers Slightly Lower Concessions Than All Other Landlords’ Properties

Nareit Industrial properties have a slightly lower average concessions package in place for active tenants compared with All Other industrial properties, as measured by the average work value and average free rent ratio of the term in place for active leases today. Among active leases, the average free rent period for Nareit Industrial tenants represents 2.6% of lease term length, slightly below All Other properties’ 2.7% average.

Nareit Industrial properties also average lower build-out allowances, with an average work value of $3.15 per square foot for active leases, compared with $4.65 per square foot for All Other industrial properties.
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Nareit Industrial Outperforms on Long-Term Rent Growth and Maintains a 3.5% Premium

To assess recent leasing performance, CompStak compared the average starting rent for deals signed in the past 24 months with the average for those signed in the prior 24-month period, as well as with the pre-pandemic average in 2019. These two rates of growth (or decline) were then averaged to create a combined indicator of both recent and longer-term industrial rent performance.

Both Nareit Industrial and other landlords posted increases in average starting rents over the past 24 months compared with the previous period. The national average also recorded positive growth, increasing by 8.7%, which outpaced Nareit’s industrial components’ growth over this recent period. 

While Nareit Industrial’s recent rent growth was slower, its longer-term performance was substantially stronger than for all other landlords. Average starting rents for Nareit Industrial increased 82.8% since 2019, compared with 63.3% for all other landlords. This stronger long-term growth contributed to Nareit Industrial scoring higher in this category for landlord performance.

When averaging both the recent and historical changes, Nareit Industrial posted a composite growth rate of 44.4%, compared with 36.3% for all other landlords, indicating stronger overall rent performance despite slightly slower recent growth.

All Other Landlords Outside of Nareit Have Active Tenants with 16.1% Longer Remaining Average Lease Term, Indicating Lower Near-Term Vacancy Risk

All non-Nareit industrial landlords combined have a portfolio that shows a significantly higher weighted average remaining lease term (WALT) of 51.8 months, compared to 44.6.1 months for Nareit Industrial. This 16 percent difference signals lower near-term vacancy risk for all other landlords not included in Nareit’s industrial index. All other landlords’ combined WALT slightly surpasses the national industrial average, underscoring their tenant stability and long-term leases in place, while Nareit Industrial has the shortest average among them.

The longest lease commitments among non-Nareit industrial landlords include Saputo Cheese (232 months) in Wisconsin, FedEx (231 months) in Long Island, and  UPS (236 months) in Chicago. Among Nareit Industrial landlords’ tenants, those with the longest remaining lease terms include City Harvest in Brooklyn (292 months) and Freez Pak (266 months) in the North and Central New Jersey market, as well as Home Depot (199 months) in the Inland Empire.

Both Nareit Industrial and All Other Landlords Posted Negative Weighted Employment Scores for Active Tenants

CompStak analyzed each industrial portfolio’s tenant industry mix, weighting each industry by its share of leased square footage and comparing those weights against year-over-year employment changes from relevant Bureau of Labor Statistics industry categories. This approach produces a weighted average employment growth rate for each portfolio, serving as an indicator of how each portfolio’s tenant base may perform given recent labor market trends within its industries.

All other landlords combined slightly outperformed Nareit Industrial on this measure, although both posted negative weighted growth overall, as did the national average. Transportation, Warehousing, and Storage represents the largest exposure for both portfolios, accounting for 28.4% of Nareit Industrial’s leased square footage and 24.0% for all other landlords. However, Nareit Industrial’s larger concentration in this sector, where national employment declined 1.8% year over year, contributed to its lower overall score.

All other landlords’ slightly stronger (though still negative) result was also supported by a higher 2.1% exposure to the Utilities sector, which posted positive employment growth of 1.5% nationally.

Nareit Industrial Slightly Outperformed All Other Landlords on a Measure of Tenant Quality, Driven by Larger and More Publicly Traded Companies in Portfolio

CompStak also calculated a Tenant Quality Score for each portfolio using two key metrics: the number of employees (more employees = higher score) and public company status (tenants publicly traded on a global exchange receive an additional boost). Results were weighted by each tenant’s leased square footage, giving larger occupiers with more employees and with publicly traded status a greater positive influence in the final score.

By this metric, Nareit Industrial achieved a Tenant Quality Score of 0.47, just slightly higher than all other landlords’ combined score of 0.46 on a scale of 0 to 1, as well as just outpacing the national average as well. A higher score generally signals greater tenant stability across the portfolio, often associated with stronger credit quality, larger revenue bases, and longer business tenure. Nareit Industrial ultimately scored slightly higher due to a higher average size of company (by employees) and a higher share of its tenant base in publicly traded companies. 

Final Evaluation: Nairet Industrial Narrowly Surpassed All Other Landlords in Overall Portfolio Score, Outperforming on Four of Six Metrics Analyzed

CompStak’s portfolio scoring analysis shows Nareit Industrial slightly outperforming other landlords, with a final weighted score of 52.2 versus 51.3 (on a 100-point scale). Nareit led in four of six key metrics, including recent and historical rent growth, the spread between market and in-place rents (a measure of near-term rent upside), tenant quality, and in-place concession ratios.

Other landlords outperformed on average remaining lease term and posted a slightly less negative tenant employment score but lagged in most other categories, including higher concession ratios and weaker rent growth. Notably, both portfolios have in-place rents below current market estimates, indicating potential near-term rent growth. While both groups saw positive recent and historical rent growth, Nareit’s growth since 2019 (+82.8%) significantly exceeded that of other landlords (+63.3%), supporting its higher overall score and stronger post-pandemic leasing performance.

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