Flex Industrial Cap Rates: Southeast Markets, Q3 2026

Q3 2026 edition · Last updated: August 1, 2026 · Data through: Q2 2026 · Compiled by QC Capital from public brokerage research. All figures are third-party published data; no proprietary QC Capital transaction data appears on this page.

Essential figures

• The Lee & Associates 2026 Q1 North America Market Report puts the U.S. industrial market cap rate index at 7.3% for Q1 2026.
• Northmarq’s Q2 2026 Multi-Tenant MarketSnapshot reports an average cap rate of 7.03% across multi-tenant transactions, up 5 basis points from the prior quarter and 5 basis points year over year.
• Northmarq reports the Q2 2026 spread between the multi-tenant average cap rate and the 10-year Treasury at 259 basis points.
• The Lee & Associates 2026 Q1 North America Market Report records U.S. industrial vacancy at 7.5% in Q1 2026 against a 19.3 billion SF inventory, with Q1 net absorption of 32.8 million SF.
• That same Lee & Associates report puts vacancy in U.S. industrial buildings up to 50,000 SF below 5%, and names Tampa, Charlotte and Nashville among the markets with the most acute shortages of small and multi-tenant buildings.
• Cresa’s Q1 2024 Industrial Flex Fast Facts recorded flex vacancy of 4.2% in Charlotte and 4.7% in Atlanta, against flex asking rents of $15.25 and $14.55 per SF respectively.

Southeast industrial cap rates by market

Flex-specific readings, where a public source publishes one

Later local-office readings, on different market definitions

Market by market

Charlotte, NC

Charlotte’s cap rate has moved in one direction for five straight quarters: Lee & Associates Charlotte records 7.42% in Q2 2025 stepping down to 7.19% in Q2 2026, against vacancy of 9.82% and average NNN asking rents of $10.13 PSF. Matthews reports the compression is uneven by class, with Class A cap rates moving into the low 6% range while Class C widens, small-bay rent growth slowing to 3.6% year over year, and pricing holding at $127 per SF. Charlotte is also one of the markets Lee & Associates names as having an acute shortage of small and multi-tenant buildings, which is the segment flex product sits in.

Raleigh-Durham, NC

Raleigh is the one market in this set where the two Lee & Associates readings agree in direction and diverge sharply in level from its neighbour: 6.9% for the Raleigh territory in the Q1 2026 North America table, against 9.0% for Durham in the same table. The Raleigh office’s own Q2 2026 overview holds cap rates flat at 7.7% for three consecutive quarters, with vacancy rising to 7.8% and asking rents at $12.96 PSF — the highest of the seven metros. Anyone quoting a single “Raleigh-Durham” cap rate is averaging two territories that public data treats as separate.

Atlanta, GA

Atlanta is the deepest market here and the one with the most independent confirmation: Lee & Associates Atlanta and Matthews both put the Q1–Q2 2026 cap rate at 6.5%, and the Q1 2026 North America table puts the Atlanta territory at 7.2%. Matthews attributes softness to supply, with 23.1 million SF under construction equal to 2.7% of inventory and vacancy at 8.4%, and notes that infill and smaller-format assets are holding up better than large logistics buildings. Cresa’s Q1 2024 flex reading of 7.7% is the only flex-specific Atlanta figure in public research.

Tampa, FL

Tampa’s Q2 2026 cap rate of 7.43% (Lee & Associates Tampa Bay) sits above the North America table’s 6.7% for the Tampa territory, and has been effectively flat for five quarters against vacancy of 6.70% and asking rents of $11.45 PSF. Lee & Associates names Tampa first on its list of markets with the most acute shortages of small and multi-tenant space, driven by demand from construction contractors and other trades serving the local housing market — the tenant profile that occupies flex product.

Charleston, SC

Charleston is the weakest-covered market in this set: the Q1 2026 North America table carries 6.9% for the Charleston territory, and no public local source publishes a Charleston-specific industrial cap rate. What is public is the demand picture. Colliers reports 2,427,792 SF of net absorption in Q1 2026 pulling vacancy below 20% after Charleston held the nation’s highest industrial vacancy through 2025, alongside a 13% year-over-year fall in Port of Charleston TEU volume. Colliers also reports that service-oriented small industrial and flex properties remain in high demand with minimal availability and rents regularly reaching $20+ PSF — a bifurcation the big-box vacancy number hides. NAI Charleston puts MSA vacancy at 13.4% for the same quarter on a different territory definition.

Savannah, GA

Savannah carries the highest cap rate of the seven at 8.0% in the Q1 2026 North America table, and 6.80% on the local office’s own territory — the widest gap between the two series in this set, and a caution against treating either as the market’s single number. Lee & Associates Savannah reports vacancy at 13.0% with asking rents at $8.86 PSF, both rising, in a market still absorbing port-driven big-box deliveries.

Nashville, TN

Nashville prints the lowest cap rate in the set at 6.3% in the Q1 2026 North America table, and it is the one metro where the local office publishes vacancy and rents but explicitly withholds cap rate and sale price, directing readers to contact the office. Lee & Associates Nashville reports vacancy at 5.45% — the tightest of the seven — on asking rents of $9.54 PSF, with 12-month net absorption turning negative. Nashville is the third market Lee & Associates names for acute small and multi-tenant shortage.

How to read flex cap rates

Cap rate

A capitalization rate is net operating income divided by purchase price, expressed as a percentage. A building producing $700,000 of NOI that trades for $10 million transacts at a 7.0% cap rate. It is a price observation, not a return: it says nothing about leverage, capital expenditure, lease rollover or exit pricing. Cap rates and values move inversely, so a rising cap rate in a market with flat rents means falling values.

Flex, warehouse and small-bay

Flex industrial is multi-tenant space combining a modest office or showroom front with warehouse or light-manufacturing rear, typically with grade-level loading, clear heights well below bulk distribution, and suites sized for single small businesses rather than distribution users. Bulk warehouse is single-purpose distribution space at far larger footprints with dock-high loading. Small-bay and shallow-bay sit between them. Public research series frequently mix these, which is why the segment column in the table above matters.

Why flex trades wider than bulk industrial

Flex carries more tenants per square foot, shorter leases, more frequent rollover and higher management intensity than a single-tenant bulk box, and it draws a smaller pool of institutional buyers. Those characteristics are priced, and the compensation shows up as a wider cap rate. The same characteristics cut the other way on the demand side: Lee & Associates records vacancy in U.S. buildings up to 50,000 SF below 5% while overall industrial vacancy sits at 7.5%.

Why market territory definitions matter

Two of the tables above disagree on Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Tampa, Savannah and Nashville by as much as 120 basis points, comparing the Lee & Associates North America table with that same firm’s local-office overviews. Neither is wrong. The North America report footnotes that its rows follow CoStar-defined market territories that “may not all represent the geographic area the label depicts”, while a local office’s overview covers the territory that office brokers. A cap rate quoted without its market definition, its period and its publisher is not a usable number.

Methodology and sources

Every figure on this page was taken from a public, non-gated research document at the time of compilation and is attributed in the table row or sentence that carries it. Figures were captured at extraction time with their publisher, report title, period and URL; nothing was retrofitted. Where two publishers disagree, both readings are shown with their definitions rather than averaged.

Source list

• Lee & Associates, 2026 Q1 North America Market Report, industrial section per-market statistics table, Q1 2026 — PDF. Data credited to CoStar.
• Lee & Associates Charlotte, Charlotte, NC Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Lee & Associates Raleigh, Raleigh, NC Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Lee & Associates Atlanta, Atlanta, GA Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Lee & Associates Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay, FL Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Lee & Associates Savannah, Savannah, GA Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Lee & Associates Nashville, Nashville, TN Industrial Market Overview, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Cresa, Industrial Flex Fast Facts, Q1 2024 — PDF. Flex-specific; source line reads “Source: CoStar, Cresa”.
• Northmarq, MarketSnapshot: Multi-Tenant Overall Market, Q2 2026 — PDF.
• Colliers, Charleston Industrial Market Report, Q1 2026 — report page.
• NAI Charleston, 1Q26 Charleston MSA Industrial Snapshot — PDF.
• Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, Atlanta, GA Industrial Market Report Q1 2026 — report page.
• Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, Charlotte Industrial Market Enters a New Investment Phase, 2026 — report page.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good cap rate for industrial real estate?

There is no single good number; a cap rate is only meaningful against its market, segment and date. For context, the Lee & Associates 2026 Q1 North America Market Report puts the U.S. industrial index at 7.3% for Q1 2026, with the seven Southeast metros on this page spanning 6.3% to 9.0% in that same table. A cap rate below the index signals a market priced for growth or scarcity; above it signals compensation for risk, vacancy or illiquidity.

What are cap rates right now?

The most recent published readings on this page are Q2 2026: Northmarq reports a 7.03% average across U.S. multi-tenant transactions, and Lee & Associates’ local offices report 7.19% in Charlotte, 7.7% in Raleigh, 6.5% in Atlanta, 7.43% in Tampa Bay and 6.80% in Savannah. Cap rate publication lags transactions by roughly one quarter.

Is a 7.5% cap rate good?

For Southeast flex and light industrial in 2026, 7.5% sits at the wide end of the published range. Six of the seven metros in the Q1 2026 Lee & Associates table printed below 7.5%; in that Lee & Associates table, only Savannah at 8.0% and the separate Durham territory at 9.0% printed above it. Whether that is good depends on what the buyer is being compensated for.

What is the average cap rate for industrial property?

The Lee & Associates 2026 Q1 North America Market Report puts the U.S. industrial index at 7.3% for Q1 2026. Northmarq’s Q2 2026 MarketSnapshot reports 7.03% across all multi-tenant property types, which includes but is not limited to industrial, up 5 basis points year over year.

What are the projected industrial cap rates for 2026?

This page publishes no forecasts. What is observable: Northmarq reports the Q2 2026 multi-tenant average up 5 basis points quarter over quarter and 5 basis points year over year, while Lee & Associates Charlotte records five consecutive quarters of compression from 7.42% to 7.19%. Direction has been market-specific rather than uniform.

How do I find the cap rate in my area?

Use a dated, named, publicly published broker market report for your metro and check three things: the period covered, the property segment, and the market territory definition. As the tables above show, the Lee & Associates North America report and that firm’s own local offices can differ by more than 100 basis points on the same metro purely because their territory boundaries differ.