Rents remain high in Chicago's Central Business District office sector as demand continues to see a slowdown. In the fourth quarter, the area's negative net absorption reached -768,717 square feet, up more than six-fold from the previous three months, according to the latest market report from Colliers. That brings the entire 2024 figure to a total of -1.77 million square feet.

The biggest issues appear to be happening in East Loop, where net absorption was -331,811 square feet. That marked the seventh straight quarter the submarket remained in the red for that category.

Interestingly, vacancy remained flat at 23.3 percent. That came as 2.5 million square feet of office inventory was reallocated for apartment developments in the future, according to Colliers. Plus, no new supply came in during the fourth quarter after 62,013 square feet was delivered in the previous three months. The availability rate went from 28.9 percent to 28.5 percent.