This has led to leading retailing tenants and landlords, paying rent rises of about 25 per cent, for short term leases. Most tenants are expected to move back to the newly-built properties under their existing leases.

The storm hit on Anzac Day afternoon and delivered 10 centimetres to 20 centimetres of hail and heavy rain in a short period across the city and western suburbs.

In its latest figures, the Insurance Council of Australia, said insurance losses from claims following a series of severe storms that hit eastern Australia in April and May had  passed $1.55 billion.

Of that, insurers were handling 14,239 claims following the hailstorm that struck Sydney on Anzac Day, with losses of $389.8 million.

"A large proportion of these claims, $302.4 million, are for commercial policies, mainly for damage to industrial properties," the ICA estimated.

According to the Savills industrial team, before the storms there was a total vacancy of about 550,000 square metres of space, ranging between 10,000 square metres and 25,000 square metres in Western Sydney.

But in the two weeks post-storm there was a take up of 130,000 square metres of short to mid-term lease space in Western Sydney, resulting in a 25 per cent take-up of existing stock.

Moshe Greengarten, industrial executive at Savills, said that this was the biggest take-up of industrial space in such a short time frame that he has seen in his professional career.

One of the hardest hit areas was Huntingwood, where at least four sites will have to be rebuilt after  roofs collapsed.

Goodman Group's Bungarribee Industrial Estate at Huntingwood in Sydney's west was the hardest hit with its roof collapsing. It is leased by Hitachi, which was storing some clothes for the new Uniqlo stores in Sydney, and Linfox and is about 35,000 square metres.

Costco's NSW hub at Huntingwood Drive, Huntingwood, owned by Australand and previously leased to Kmart, was hard hit, leaving the retailer looking for temporary digs. It is about 30,000 square metres in size and is the main centre to service its NSW retail stores.

Metcash confirmed its 82,853 square metres distribution centre at Huntingwood site, which opened three years ago, had sustained significant damage. Metcash has signs at its supermarkets across NSW warning some stock is unavailable due to the storm and having to relocate premises.

Nearby, the company-owned Hyundai site, called Mobis Parts Australia, at Peter Brock Drive, Eastern Creek, of about 30,000 square metres, also sustained damage, as did the Beiersdorf Australia plant at Huntingwood, of about 10,000 square metres.

"These warehouses had literally fallen over and were only supported by their racking, so companies such as Metcash, Mobis, Beiersdorf, Hitachi and Linfox had to make very quick decisions to find new premises," Mr Greengarten said.

"The take-up was filtered between landowners, institutions and privates with Goodman leasing four assets, totalling 82,000 square metres of secondary space, GIC leased one asset at 25,000 square metres and a number of private owners, collectively leased 25,000 square metres."

Mr Greengarten said that within the 20,000 square metres-plus size properties there were only a handful of A grade buildings available, which would result in heightened demand for secondary grade stock.

The average rent in the area can vary from $95 up to $300 per square metre per annum, but to rebuild, with new weight-bearing roofs, is about $600 per square metre per annum.