The sites are in western Sydney, which has seen some of the strongest rental growth rates in the country. The demand has also triggered a new wave of development.

Industrial property is having its moment in the sun, as demand increases for storage and distribution centres thanks to a combination of online shopping and smaller retail outlets that now transport groceries daily rather than have items stored on site.

There is also a land grab between industrial and residential developers with traditional industrial areas being converted into residential around Botany, Alexandria and Marrickville. This has forced companies to look for new facilities in the west.

GPT, which reports its half-year result this morning and has identified industrial property as an engine for growth, bought three parcels of land with plans to commence two speculative logistics developments, all in western Sydney.

Combined, the five development opportunities could deliver up to 130,000 square metres of logistics product in the highly sought western corridor. The acquisitions include 5.3 hectares of land on Old Wallgrove Road Eastern Creek, a 50 per cent stake in a 4.3-hectare lot on Templar Road Erskine Park and a facility at 1 Huntingwood Drive, Huntingwood with an adjoining two-hectare parcel of land.

GPT's head of office and logistics Matthew Faddy said the purchases were part of the group's renewed focus on building its logistics development pipeline in prime locations such as Sydney's west.

"These acquisitions provide GPT additional scope to deliver logistics product in the Sydney market where the availability of well-serviced industrial land is becoming increasingly scarce," Mr Faddy said.

"Eastern Creek and Erskine Park are great locations for industrial property due to the proximity to transport and infrastructure."

Mr Faddy said the new sites would replenish GPT's land bank and development pipeline following its success in delivering $300 million worth of logistics and business park assets at Erskine Park and Sydney Olympic Park last year.

The Templar road site can accommodate up to 22,000sq m of logistics space. It comes as companies are also looking at consolidating their operations into one facility for efficiencies.

It is adjacent to GPT's 20,570sq m Retail Ready Meats chilled food-processing and manufacturing facility, which was developed last year. The purchased land at Eastern Creek has the potential to deliver 30,000sq m of logistics facilities with significant exposure and direct access to the M7 Motorway via Old Wallgrove Road.

The property is close to another 5.1-hectare lot on Eastern Creek Drive purchased in April. The group has now lodged a development application for a 26,850sq m logistics facility on the site. This proposed facility, in addition to the 18,000sq m logistics facility at GPT's site at 18-24 Abbott Road Seven Hills, will be speculatively developed with both facilities due for completion in first half of next year.

Contracts have been exchanged for the seven-hectare property at 1 Huntingwood Drive, Huntingwood which consists of a 21,200sq m office warehouse, formerly occupied by Sharp Corporation of Australia. The site includes 2.2 hectares of land which will provide the opportunity to deliver a further 11,000sq m of logistics product.

GPT's purchases come as a report from Knight Frank reveals that east coast industrial vacancies have fallen over the past quarter, with a 3.7 per cent increase in Sydney. This has been offset by falls of 1.3 per cent and 2 per cent in Melbourne and Brisbane respectively.

The total industrial vacancy on the east coast currently sits at 2.16 million square metres, reflecting a modest fall over the past quarter. Total vacancy has fallen by 2.8 per cent over the past year, as Melbourne and Brisbane have stabilised and Sydney continues to record strong activity.

Knight Frank's group director of research  and consulting, Matt Whitby, said Sydney had continued to be the most active of the three industrial markets, supported by strong jobs growth, dwelling construction and retail sales over the past 12 months.

"The most recent quarterly take-up, excluding development and construction, of 223,119 square metres is 54 per cent above the long-term average and represents the eighth consecutive quarter of above-average take-up for the city. This has resulted in the vacancy falling by 41 per cent since the January 2015 peak," Mr Whitby said.

"Sydney leasing activity has been driven by consumer goods and third-party logistics (3PL) operators who continue to seek modern facilities which offer operational efficiencies. Activity has focused on the prime market, which accounted for 67 per cent of take-up over the last quarter.

"Outside of these users there is demand arising from the strong infrastructure development pipeline both under way and planned. There are continued stock withdrawals in inner and middle-ring areas. This is forcing users to look for alternative premises."

Mr Whitby said the Melbourne market had showed some improvement over the past quarter, reducing by 1.3 per cent from the series high of April 2016 to 1,060,662sq m. The total vacancy remains 60 per cent above the long-term average, with the elevated vacancy levels underpinned by increases in prime grade backfill options.

He said tenants were upgrading and consolidating from multiple sites into purpose-built facilities.