The state's beefed-up Grow NJ tax-incentive program helped drive demand, spurring Valeant Pharmaceuticals and VF Sportswear to relocate from New York City, says CBRE's Greg Barkan. “We expect this trend to continue in 2014,” he adds.

In addition, Barkan notes that nearly 30 million square feet of office leases are set to roll over in the next 24 months, which will also boost demand.

Last year, the relocation of large corporations such as Valeant – which took 310,000 square feet at SJP's Somerset Corporate Center IV in Bridgewater in December - and GAF Corp. – which purchased Realogy's 330,000-square-foot headquarters building in Parsippany - helped boost the office market.

“We're seeing companies relocate to modern or recently renovated office properties,” said Sarno. “We saw 14 transactions for more than 100,000 square feet in 2013, compared to just nine of that size in 2012.”

Over the course of the year, there were lease renewals for 9 million square feet; there were more than 850,000 square feet of user-buyer sales, according to CBRE. That helped hold the vacancy rate steady at just over 21% for a fifth consecutive year, despite the large amount of space added to the market.

Goldman Sachs put 308,000 square feet on the market at its 30 Hudson St. tower in Jersey City and Pearson put its 472,000-square-foot office in Saddle River on the market as it moves to new space in Hoboken.

There was just 2.5% sublet availability in the fourth quarter, only 3.8 million square feet, which CBRE analysts called one of the lowest levels ever. The lowest availability rates were in Montvale/Woodcliff Lake at 11.7%, Princeton at 12.6% and Greater Monmouth County at 16.4%.

Average asking rent increased slightly to $24.02 per square foot after four straight quarters of decline. The highest asking rates remained at the Hudson waterfront, $31.40 per square foot. In Princeton, it was $26.92 per square foot and along the Parkway corridor, $25.36.