The US office market has experienced an acceleration in leasing activity and a slowdown of new supply, pushing availability levels down for the first time in more than five years, according to JLL's Q3 office market dynamics report.

After reaching a post-pandemic high last quarter, leasing activity continued to grow marginally to 50.4 million square feet. Gateway and secondary markets both outperformed the national total, growing 2.5% and 4.6% respectively, while tertiary market leasing fell 18.7% quarter over quarter.

Meanwhile downsizing trends normalized as tenants appeared to become more comfortable with their existing office footprints. At the same time, new supply has fallen dramatically and a record volume of inventory is being removed for conversion and redevelopment. Through Q3, more than 30 million square feet of office has been planned for removal, predominantly for office-to-residential conversions. This has led to a tightening office market across the country for the first time since 2019, according to JLL.