The vacancy rate among D.C. offices ticked up in the second quarter, a sign that one of the biggest office markets in the country is still a long way from returning to a healthy state.
Vacancy in the District was at 20.4% in the second quarter, up from Q1’s 20.3% and half a percentage point higher than this time last year, according to CBRE data. Tenants emptied out 239K SF of office space, more negative net absorption than in the first quarter, when 230K SF more space was emptied than leased up.
“Vacancy continues to steadily increase,” JLL Mid-Atlantic Research Director Michael Hartnett said. “We’re looking at about 25.5M SF vacant space in D.C., with a bulk of that being in the East End and CBDs, really the core of D.C.”
Gross leasing volume did pick up, with 1.8M SF leased compared with 1.2M SF the quarter before. But despite no new construction opening yet this year, the increased activity — much of which was fueled by law firms as they look to upgrade their space in a tenant-friendly market — wasn’t enough to offset the trend of space reductions.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Emily Wishingrad over at Bisnow
