Middle Market Digest-The Midwest

CHICAGO—The migration of many American companies back into our urban cores has been justly celebrated by those in the commercial real estate industry. Values and rents in once-moribund submarkets have soared, touching not just the office sector, but retail and residential as well. But even though that migration has left some big vacancies in many outlying towns, it should not obscure the resilience shown by many suburban office markets.

According to a new report from CBRE Group, Inc., after registering positive absorption for 27 consecutive quarters, the US suburban vacancy rate has nearly sunk to its pre-recession low. It now stands at 14.1%, or 450 bps below the cyclical peak in the second quarter of 2010, and just 20 bps above the previous low of 13.9% reached in 2007.