CHICAGO—Economic growth may have gotten a little uneven, but the US office market seems poised for more steady growth in 2016, according to a report on market conditions just released by Colliers International Group Inc. The 2015 Q3 US Office Market Outlook notes that some firms did cut back on production to shrink bloated inventories, and the strength of the dollar reduced exports. But Colliers considers these factors as no more than temporary drags on the economy.

"We anticipate positive momentum in Q4, particularly with the renewed strength in job growth creating added demand in the office sector," said Cynthia Foster, president of national office services at Colliers, in a prepared statement. GlobeSt.com will provide a more in-depth discussion of the report later this week. "Overall, third quarter market health is encouraging as the national vacancy rate declined 30 bps, a full 70 bps lower than a year prior. The majority of markets are enjoying this growth, with only 20% of metro areas seeing rising vacancies."

The researchers found that class A properties in both CBDs and suburbs were doing quite well. Asking rents saw gains of 6.8% and 3.5%, respectively, year-over-year. Offices in the San Francisco Bay area saw the largest gains due to the fierce competition for space in that region.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Brian J. Rogal

Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.