HOUSTON—Office leasing spiked in the last quarter of 2017 and that activity doesn't show any signs of waning if the first two months are any indication. Quarterly leasing activity totaled 3.6 million square feet, the highest quarterly amount since the third quarter of 2016. Activity was driven by a continued flight to quality, aggressiveness by non-energy tenants and some relocations from spaces affected by Hurricane Harvey, according to the fourth quarter 2017 office market report by Savills Studley.
Overall, Houston's office market emerged largely unaffected by Hurricane Harvey. A fair number of area businesses were active in the market this quarter, with many of them trading up to higher-quality space and capitalizing on favorable lease terms, GlobeSt.com learns.
Houston's overall availability rate rose by 20 basis points during last quarter to 27.3%. The class-A rate fell by 80 basis points to 29.7%. Moreover, asking rent nudged lower as rates for the entire region decreased by 0.5% to $28.81. However, year-on-year, average asking rent increased 2.6%.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
