Cassidy Turley Reports More Negative Absorption

WASHINGTON, DC-While the rest of the nation’s commercial real estate markets relax as fundamentals improve, the mood in the nation’s capital is getting more glum. The Washington, DC area just recorded a net absorption of negative 1.6 million square feet in Q1, Cassidy Turley reports. That is the lowest level since Q4 of 2002. The metro-wide vacancy rate increased 0.6 percentage points, quarter over quarter, to reach 13.7%. In the District itself, first-quarter absorption was negative 248,000 feet, with the vacancy rate remaining flat at 10.4%.

The largest non-renewal deal inked this quarter was for a paltry (relatively speaking, if one is to harken back to the salad days of 2007) 61,000 square feet at 1050 Connecticut Ave., NW, by the American Bar Association. The next four largest leases were of equally dismaying size—dismaying, at least, to industry onlookers and local landlords.