Per CBRE EA, net absorption was a healthy 120 million square feet in the third quarter, while completions came in at 79 million square feet.
Through the first three quarters of this year, net absorption was 292 million square feet, significantly outpacing new supply of 193 million.
In our portfolio, we grew occupancy 50 basis points to finish the third quarter at 97.1%.
Cash, same-store NOI increased 6.9% and cash rental rates for new and renewal leases were up 22.8%.
As of today, we have signed roughly 98% of the 2021 expirations and including new leasing, our overall cash rental rate increase is 15.3%, which puts us on pace to top our previous company record of 13.9% in 2019.
With respect to 2022 expirations, we're off to a great start with 29% of renewals signed and a cash rental rate increase of 19%.
Due to continued robust fundamentals in the industrial market, the strength of our balance sheet and growth in our portfolio and the significant opportunities we have to create shareholder value through new investments, we've increased our speculative leasing cap by $175 million, bringing the total to $800 million.
During the third quarter, we closed on three development sites, totaling 122 acres for $59 million.
In total, these sites can accommodate up to 2.1 million square feet of new development.
And one of the new Inland Empire East sites, we are starting our First Pioneer Logistics Center, a 461,000 square foot cross-dock facility.
Our total projected investment is $73 million, with a targeted cash yield of 6.8%.
Market vacancy in the Inland Empire is sub-2%, and market rents have grown more than 80% since we went under contract on this site in early 2020.
We look forward to adding this prime asset to our Southern California portfolio, which represents approximately 23% of our rental income, as of the end of the third quarter.
We are starting another development in South Florida to serve the strong tenant demand, we have experienced there, with our recent leasing successes at First Park Miami and First 95 Distribution Center.
FirstGate Commerce Center will be a 132,000 square foot, Class A distribution facility in the infill Coral Springs submarket.
Market rents in Broward County have grown 15% to 20% since the end of 2019.
Our total estimated investment is $24 million, and our targeted cash yield is 5.5%.
In the fourth quarter, we acquired a site in Bordentown, New Jersey, just off of Exit 7, on the Jersey Turnpike, for $8 million.
We immediately started construction, a First Bordentown Logistics Center, a 208,000 square foot facility.
The Central New Jersey market has been exceptionally strong, with asking rents up 34% versus last year, according to a recent market report from CBRE.
Our total projected investment is $33 million, with an estimated cash yield of 5.8%.
In summary, these three planned fourth quarter starts total approximately 800,000 square feet, with an estimated investment of $130 million and a cash yield of 6.3%.
Including these planned starts, our developments in process totaled 6.4 million square feet, with a total investment of approximately $725 million.
At a cash yield of 6%, our expected overall development margin on these projects is approximately 65%.
In the fourth quarter to date, in addition to the New Jersey site, I just discussed, we also acquired a total of 10 acres in the Inland Empire and Northern California for a total of $10 million.
As of today, adjusted for our planned fourth quarter starts and the aforementioned land acquisitions, our balance sheet land can support approximately 12.5 million square feet of new development.
Our share of the Phoenix Camelback joint venture is an additional 3.8 million square feet.
In total, that's north of 16 million square feet and represents approximately $1.7 billion of potential new investment activity.
We just leased the entire 548,000 square footer at First Park @ PV303, in Phoenix, at completion, to a leading omnichannel retailer.
As part of this lease, we are also expanding the building, another 254,000 square feet, for a total of 802,000 square feet.
The total estimated investment for the project, including the expansion is $72 million, and the estimated cash yield is 6%.
We also leased 100% of our 303,000 square foot First Wilson Logistics Center in the Inland Empire that will be completed in the first quarter of 2022.
With a cash yield of 8.7%, we substantially outperformed our underwritten yield.
We are pleased that we have land sites in this high-growth market that can support another 2.8 million square feet of development.
Our first year yield is 7.5% on our $21 million investment, which represents a margin of around 150%.
During the quarter, we sold six properties and four units for $14 million.
And in the fourth quarter, we have sold four additional buildings in Detroit, totaling $7 million, bringing our year-to-date total to $126 million.
Given current visibility on our disposition pipeline, we now expect sales for the year to total $175 million to $225 million, a $75 million increase from the prior midpoint of $125 million.
NAREIT funds from operations were $0.51 per fully diluted share, compared to $0.49 per share in 3Q 2020.
Excluding approximately $0.04 per share of income related to the final settlement of an insurance claim, 3Q 2020 FFO was $0.45 per share.
Our cash basis same-store NOI growth for the quarter, excluding termination fees, was 6.9%, primarily due to higher average occupancy, an increase in rental rates on new and renewal leasing, rental rate bumps and lower bad-debt expense, slightly offset by an increase in free rent.
We commenced approximately 2.4 million square feet of leases.
Of these, 500,000 were new, 1.4 million were renewals and and 500,000 were for developments and acquisitions with lease-up.
Tenant retention by square footage was 85%.
Cash rental rates for the quarter were up 22.8% overall, with renewals up 21% and new leasing up 27.5%.
And on a straight-line basis, overall rental rates were up 36.2%, with renewals increasing 34.9% and new leasing up 39.5%.
First, we expanded our line of credit to $750 million and improved our pricing to LIBOR plus 77.5 basis points, a reduction of 32.5 basis points, compared to our prior facility.
We also refinanced our $200 million term loan.
The new term loan matures in July 2026 and has an interest rate of LIBOR plus 85 basis points, a reduction of 65 basis points in the spread, compared to our prior facility.
With our interest rate swaps in place, the new fixed interest rate on the term loan is 1.84%.
On the equity side, through our ATM, we issued 1.1 million common shares, at a weighted average price of $55.35 per share, for total net proceeds of $59 million to help fund the new investments, Peter spoke about.
Our guidance range for NAREIT FFO is now $1.93 to $1.97 per share, which is a $0.02 per share increase at the midpoint, reflecting our third quarter performance and an increase in capitalized interest due to our announced development starts.
Key assumptions for guidance are as follows: in-service occupancy at year-end of 96.75% to 97.75%.
This implies a full year quarter-end average in-service occupancy of 96.5% to 96.8%, an increase of 15 basis points at the midpoint.
Fourth quarter same-store NOI growth, on a cash basis, before termination fees of 6% to 7.5%.
This implies a quarterly, average same-store NOI growth for the full year 2021 of 4.3% to 4.7%, an increase of 25 basis points at the midpoint due to our third quarter performance.
Please note that our full year same-store NOI guidance excludes the impact of approximately $1 million from the gain from an insurance settlement.
Our G&A expense guidance is now $34 million to $35 million, an increase of $1 million at the midpoint, and guidance includes the anticipated 2021 costs related to our completed and under-construction developments at September 30, plus the expected fourth quarter starts of First Pioneer Logistics Center, First Gate Commerce Center, and First Bordentown Logistics Center.
In total, for the full year 2021, we expect to capitalize about $0.08 per share of interest.
We're excited about our growth prospects, as we continue to put into production our landholdings that can currently support more than 16 million square feet of value-creating developments.

Summary:
NAREIT funds from operations were $0.51 per fully diluted share, compared to $0.49 per share in 3Q 2020.
Our guidance range for NAREIT FFO is now $1.93 to $1.97 per share, which is a $0.02 per share increase at the midpoint, reflecting our third quarter performance and an increase in capitalized interest due to our announced development starts.