Abstract
Recent evolutionary trends in world economics, with increasing market globalization and company production relocation, is changing the traditional logistics network structure. Companies feel need to rapidly configure their distributive systems, in order to ensure flexibility. Among strategic decisions, logistics facilities localization alternatives play an essential role, due to their impact on supply chain efficiency and costs. The aim of the present study is to deeply analyse logistics real estate business environment. After an introduction regarding market players, with the explanation of their respective roles and range of activities, an European and Italian location attractiveness outlook is discussed, in terms of rents, yields and logistics stock. Then, best practices concerning localization strategies and building design solutions are presented. Finally, after a focus on Lombardy market area (the most important national economic and productive region), some short term development issues for the Italian logistics real estate market are traced. Keywords: logistics real estate, supply chain management, facility location, distribution networks planning.