Rents on the Rise

Office Market Update

By Joel Nelson on May 31, 2019 in News

A new national office property report from Yardi Matrix shows that asking rents rose by 1.1% in April 2019 over the previous three month period while robust absorption of new supply kept the vacancy rate unchanged at 13.7%.

Office rents’ strength across the U.S. reflects “the continued health of the economy and the growth of the technology, health care and coworking segments,” according to the report. Nineteen of the 25 major markets covered in the report saw gains in asking rents over the past three months. Rent growth was strongest in markets with a healthy dose of “new economy” and technology tenants such as Austin, Texas, Brooklyn, N.Y., San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, along with Tampa, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn. Only Chicago and Seattle saw declines of more than 1%.

About 14.4 million square feet of office space came online through April, with Class A space accounting for about 90% of the total. Properties under construction represent a 2.9% growth of total inventory.

“While it is early in the year and we expect the pace of deliveries to step up later in the year, so far in 2019 suburban construction has outpaced that in central business districts compared to last year,” the report says.

Asking rents stood at $36.40 per square foot nationally in April. The vacancy rate was unchanged at 13.7%. Office property transactions valued at $19.8 billion closed in the first four months of the year.

Want more insight? View the full Yardi Matrix national office report for May 2019.