E-commerce, investment firms on the hunt for warehouse space

Experts are reporting a surging demand for logistics properties, such as warehouses - facilities that are especially attractive to e-commerce companies.

Since 2009, rents for advanced logistics properties have risen at an average annual rate of 9 percent. In Jiangsu province, rents have more than doubled for such facilities since 2008.

Modern standard warehousing facilities are in extremely short supply. According to the China Association of Warehouses and Storage, China has only 14 million square meters of modern standard logistics facilities, and that is just 2 percent of the total supply.