BOSTON–While national office vacancy still remains in double digits, technology giants plan to return to office later this year, according to report from CommercialEdge. The April national office report analyzes the US office market’s performance in the first quarter of 2021.
With nearly 25% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, large tech companies eye a return to the office later this year, the report said, adding that one year into pandemic, office vacancy rates continue to climb, but investor appetite for high-quality office assets remains high.
Here’s what data shows:
- Marking a 1.4% increase year-over-year, the national office rents rested at $38.67 per sq. ft. in March, an increase of 36 cents from the previous month.
- The national vacancy rate was 15.6%, an increase of 280 basis points over Q1 2020 levels. In March 2021, no market had a vacancy rate in the single digits.
- Office-using employment decreased 2.5% Y-o-Y, as only 18 of the 114 markets covered by CommercialEdge added office-using jobs during pandemic.
- Nationally, there are 162.6 million square feet of new space under construction, with 70% located in CBD or urban submarkets.
- Despite large transactions, the first quarter of 2021 was characterized by low sales volume, almost $10 billion of sales short of Q1 2020.
For more insights and market-specific data, check out our full report: https://www.commercialedge.com/blog/u-s-office-lease-rates-inch-upward-vacancy-still-in-double-digits/
