September Office Report: Occupancy Rates Stay Low

As hybrid work options seem to have become an expectation in much of the corporate world, office properties continue to experience low physical occupancy levels. The pain from this new reality will not be felt equally across markets however, as New York City is seeing the most leasing activity and highest demand of the last five years, while vacancy rates remain near record highs in most other large markets. High-quality properties offering a wealth of valued amenities in desirable locations continue to have an easier time stimulating higher occupancy.

Read more about these trends and get the latest data in this month’s CommercialCafe Office Report.

Key highlights:

• The national office vacancy rate was close to 18.7% in August, following a modest decrease of 80 basis points year-over-year.
• The national office listing rate averaged $32.63 per square foot in August, which marked a 0.4% slip from the previous year.
• The office supply pipeline remained modest at the start of September with a little more than 40 million square feet of office space currently under construction.
• Manhattan, N.Y., topped the list for YTD sales through August in terms of dollar volume (nearly $5 billion), followed by the Bay Area ($3.4 billion) and Washington, D.C. ($3.1 billion)
• Seattle; Austin, Texas; and San Francisco had the highest vacancy rates in August, each above 25%.
• Office asking rates in Manhattan, N.Y., and San Francisco were roughly double the national average, while Midwestern markets remained among the most affordable.
• The Boston office pipeline was the most active with nearly 5.6 million square feet of new office space under construction.

For more insights on sales trends, employment data, and supply across leading markets, read the full report: https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/national-office-report/