While Downtown Boston or Cambridge grabs most of the headlines, the suburbs are Greater Boston's largest submarket. “While there has been a trend towards urbanization, the suburbs still total over 136 million square feet in Greater Boston,” Jodka says.

In terms of leasing in the suburbs—biotechnology is king. Moderna Theraueptics recently leased all of the 100 Upland Drive building (185,000 square feet) in Norwood. Another major deal in the third quarter was Tesaro's 122,000-square-foot deal at 100 Winter St. in Waltham.

The vacancy rate for the Boston suburbs fell slightly from 17% in the second quarter to 16.8% in the third quarter of this year. In the third quarter of 2015, the suburban Boston vacancy rate was 17.7%. The aforementioned Cambridge market is “essentially full” according to Colliers, Boston. The overall vacancy rate in this biotech hub is 2.9% with the office component posting a 4.2% vacancy rate and the laboratory sector showing a 1.8% vacancy.

Downtown Boston's vacancy rate moved up 0.6 percentage points from the second quarter to 11% in the third quarter. The Back Bay posted a 14.8% rate, the Financial District sported an 11.1% rate and the Seaport currently registers a 10.4% vacancy rate.

In terms of how the suburbs will fare going forward, Jodka says that building owners south of the city, particularly Quincy and Braintree, could push rents higher as tenants relocating out of Boston will be wiling to pay higher rents, but still enjoy savings as compared to their properties in Boston. “Overall, well located assets, both Class A and B, can expect modest rent growth,” he says.

“Little in the way of speculative ground-up construction is liable to break round over the next couple of quarter—save for industrial conversions—(in the suburbs),” Jodka predicts, “given the still extensive list of availabilities over 100,000 square feet or more as well as rapidly rising construction costs.”

He also advises that building owners that undertake capital improvements should outperform their competition. Leasing remains healthy in most sub-markets, with the exception of 495 West, where deals are taking longer to close.

BOSTON—In the third quarter, the suburbs led the Greater Boston market once again in office space absorption, fueled in part by the completion of several major construction projects.

Colliers International, Boston in its third quarter office market report on Boston, notes that absorption in the suburbs topped 1.5 million square feet in the last three months. Major projects by Partners Healthcare (850,000 square feet) in Somerville, Wolverine Worldwide (150,000 square feet) in Waltham and the FBI in Chelsea (220,000 square feet) led the way, the brokerage firm reports. All three took occupancy of their respective offices in the third quarter.

Aaron Jodka, director of research for Colliers, Boston, says in the report that build-to-suit projects in the suburbs of Greater Boston are “a clear driver of the market.” He also cites the construction underway on the new SharkNinja headquarters in Needham and Clarks pending relocation into new 120,000-square-foot space in Waltham in the fourth quarter. in addition, High Resolution Bio is building its new 80,000-square-foot headquarters in Beverly, he adds.

“The suburbs benefit from a diverse tenant mix that is dominated by technology, consumer products and healthcare companies,” Jodka says. “High rents and low availability in Cambridge are forcing more biotech-lab users to look to the suburbs as an alternative.”

While Downtown Boston or Cambridge grabs most of the headlines, the suburbs are Greater Boston's largest submarket. “While there has been a trend towards urbanization, the suburbs still total over 136 million square feet in Greater Boston,” Jodka says.

In terms of leasing in the suburbs—biotechnology is king. Moderna Theraueptics recently leased all of the 100 Upland Drive building (185,000 square feet) in Norwood. Another major deal in the third quarter was Tesaro's 122,000-square-foot deal at 100 Winter St. in Waltham.

The vacancy rate for the Boston suburbs fell slightly from 17% in the second quarter to 16.8% in the third quarter of this year. In the third quarter of 2015, the suburban Boston vacancy rate was 17.7%. The aforementioned Cambridge market is “essentially full” according to Colliers, Boston. The overall vacancy rate in this biotech hub is 2.9% with the office component posting a 4.2% vacancy rate and the laboratory sector showing a 1.8% vacancy.

Downtown Boston's vacancy rate moved up 0.6 percentage points from the second quarter to 11% in the third quarter. The Back Bay posted a 14.8% rate, the Financial District sported an 11.1% rate and the Seaport currently registers a 10.4% vacancy rate.

In terms of how the suburbs will fare going forward, Jodka says that building owners south of the city, particularly Quincy and Braintree, could push rents higher as tenants relocating out of Boston will be wiling to pay higher rents, but still enjoy savings as compared to their properties in Boston. “Overall, well located assets, both Class A and B, can expect modest rent growth,” he says.

“Little in the way of speculative ground-up construction is liable to break round over the next couple of quarter—save for industrial conversions—(in the suburbs),” Jodka predicts, “given the still extensive list of availabilities over 100,000 square feet or more as well as rapidly rising construction costs.”

He also advises that building owners that undertake capital improvements should outperform their competition. Leasing remains healthy in most sub-markets, with the exception of 495 West, where deals are taking longer to close.