Office Absorption Slows, but US Rents Rising

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.