Amazon fuels North America’s most severe warehouse shortage

A file photo of packages moving along a conveyor at an Amazon warehouse facility in Goodyear, Arizona. While the warehouse shortage is most acute in Toronto, other major cities in Canada aren’t far behind, with Victoria, Vancouver and Montreal rounding out North America’s top four tightest warehouse markets, according to real estate brokerage Colliers International Group Inc. — AP

Finding warehouse space around Toronto has never been harder, and the e-commerce fuelled shortage is disrupting businesses and threatening the broader economy.

With the pandemic driving a belated embrace of online shopping in Canada, Amazon.com Inc has been gobbling up warehouses. That’s pushed the vacancy rate in the Toronto area down to just 0.5%, making it the tightest market in North America, if not the world.