Miami-Dade Office Market Shows Moderate Energy in Q1

MIAMI-The Miami-Dade County office market showed “modest momentum” in the first quarter, according to a newly released report by CB Richard Ellis. Market highlights during the quarter include 293,839 sf of positive net absorption, slight growth in leasing activity, a minimal drop in vacancy rates, and a minimal rise in average asking rates.More than 820,000 sf of leasing activity occurred in the first quarter, a 14 percentage point increase compared with the previous quarter. Approximately 25.6% of the activity took place in the Brickell submarket, due largely to strong pre-leasing at the new Espirito Santo Plaza and healthy leasing activity at the Four Seasons office building. Overall, more than 57% of the county’s leasing activity was class A space.The Kendall submarket had the lowest vacancy rate in the county at just 4.8%, while the South Dade submarket showed the highest vacancy rate–46.2%–due to space available at the former 300,000-sf Burger King headquarters location. Most submarkets’ vacancy rates fell within the 12% to 20% range.Besides having the strongest leasing activity, the Brickell submarket, which has the highest average asking rental rates, experienced the strongest absorption, at 201,397 sf. The Airport West submarket experienced the poorest net absorption, at negative 51,947 sf, according to the report.A market recovery is expected to speed up the second half of the year, the report states.