CHICAGO—In recent years, the recovery of the US office market spread through much of the country, but in the first quarter net absorption slowed, according to new research from DTZ. Still, the company says demand for office space remained strong enough to push rents upwards in over 70% of the country.

Office markets absorbed 10.6 million square feet of space in the first three months of 2015, down 5% from the same quarter one year ago. Despite the slowdown, net absorption has been positive now for 20 consecutive quarters. And vacancy tightened by 10 bps from the previous quarter to 14.4%. DTZ tracked 80 metro areas and 60 reported occupancy gains, while 20 reported losses.

But Kevin Thorpe, DTZ's chief economist, Americas, says that seasonal factors explain the slowdown. "For six years in a row, absorption levels have been weakest in the first quarter of the year. The weakness is simply a function of weather, budget cycles, and other seasonal data quirks - it has never amounted to a sustained downtrend. Looking past seasonal volatility, job growth in most office-using sectors is as robust as nearly ever, which points to stronger occupancy gains and more aggressive rent growth in the coming months for the majority of the country."