The outsourcing of logistics activities has driven the emergence of an urban logistics real estate market. Urban land and floor space scarcity and economies of scale have mostly relocated logistics facilities towards less dense and more peripheral areas of cities1–6. This process, known as ‘logistics sprawl,’ has compromised urban sustainability, livability, and economic growth1–4. Through this research, as a contribution to the Logistics City Chair, we explore the hypotheses that logistics sprawl is higher in cities with a high differential between central and suburban land/rent values. We have compared the urban spatial structure with warehouses' location and rent prices in 53 metropolitan areas worldwide. The methodological steps of this research were based on two primary analyses: (i) the characterization of the urban spatial structure in each metropolitan area and the relationship among urban variables, warehouse location, and real estate rent prices; and (ii) a comparative analysis among the metropolitan areas under investigation, considering the meta-analysis of logistics sprawl in published studies (Palacios-Argüello and Dablanc, 2020a) and the differential warehouse rent price concerning central and suburban areas.