SoCal’s Rexford Posts Record Quarterly Leasing Volume
The L.A.-based real estate investment trust’s leasing activity in Q3, at 3.3 million square feet, was nearly double its Q2 numbers
By Nick Trombola October 16, 2025 3:35 pm
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Rexford Industrial Realty has posted its strongest-ever quarterly leasing activity and positive absorption figures, despite macroeconomic concerns and uncertainty over tariffs.
The third-quarter milestones, only mentioned deep in the real estate investment trust’s latest earnings call, reflect Rexford’s focus on industrial and logistics assets in Southern California infill markets. The REIT closed 3.3 million square feet of new or renewed leases in the third quarter of this year, including about 845,000 square feet at recently redeveloped or repositioned properties. That figure is nearly double Rexford’s leasing activity in the second quarter of this year.
“I think most importantly, our buildings are of higher quality in the market, and our team is proactively driving demand today,” Laura Clark, Rexford chief operating officer, said during the earnings call. “Both of those factors are what are contributing to our overall leasing success that we’ve seen this year and certainly in the quarter.”
Positive absorption — a measure of how much more space has been leased rather than vacated — also skyrocketed in the third quarter, hitting 1.9 million square feet compared to just 220,000 square feet in the previous quarter. Fresh demand for high-quality space, and the relative lack of new developments, is key to that figure. Rexford’s total portfolio, excluding assets that are being repositioned or redeveloped, was 97.3 percent occupied this past quarter, a jump of 230 basis points quarter-over-quarter.
Rexford’s core funds from operations were $141.7 million, a jump of 1.4 percent quarter-over-quarter and 9 percent year-over-year. Its total revenue for the third quarter was $253.2 million, an increase of 1.5 percent quarter-over-quarter and 4.7 percent year-over-year.
A chunk of those profits came from property sales. Rexford traded three assets — totaling 151,760 square feet — in the third quarter, for a combined $53.6 million. That includes the $21.6 million sale of 15715 Arrow Highway in Irwindale, Calif., a 76,000-square-foot property initially slated for redevelopment but ultimately sold to its former tenant. Rexford has an additional $160 million worth of sales under contract or with an accepted offer. Meanwhile, it has zero acquisitions in the pipeline — a far cry from the post-pandemic days when the REIT was spending upwards of $1 billion annually to purchase new assets.
“Overall, market vacancy is about 5 percent, and importantly, when you drill down and look at the high-quality, well-located product that’s comparable to our portfolio, that market vacancy is substantially lower,” Michael Frankel, Rexford’s co-CEO, said during the earnings call. “So the backdrop is very strong, and overall tenant health is holding very well within our 51 million-square-foot portfolio. … I think some business leaders … have become somewhat desensitized around a constantly changing tariff environment, and maybe they’re feeling it’s time to get on with business.”
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
