Rents are finally rising for Albuquerque's industrial facilities, as the market keeps tightening even as some manufacturing and warehouse companies go out of business.

According to CBRE research, the city's median asking lease rate is $7.27 per square foot, which is higher than the previous postrecession high of $7.25, reached in 2010.

Albuquerque's industrial space is demanding higher rents.

CBRE says there's been a steady demand for industrial space, while no developers are building new industrial space for lease. The last time Albuquerque saw significant speculative industrial construction was 2008.

The only new industrial construction is for companies building their own headquarters or facilities. More than 100,000 square feet has been built or is under construction this year. All of it is build-to-suit development.

That includes a 15,000-plus-square-foot warehouse in the West Mesa area, a 12,000-square-foot addition to a manufacturing facility and a 44,000-square-foot building in the North I-25 area.

Meanwhile, some manufacturing and warehouse companies closed this year. The biggest in the second quarter was GDi, or General Distributors, a grocery store distributor and owner that occupied 64,000 square feet north of Paseo Del Norte.

Despite that closure, Albuquerque's industrial vacancy rate remains low at 6.2 percent, down from 6.3 percent last quarter.

With vacancies low and rents increasing, it's possible the two factors could drive the market to create speculative industrial space. However, it's more likely current warehouse owners will reinvest in existing space before building new.