Office vacancy hits 10-year low

Transwestern, a privately held real estate firm, has released its 2017 year-end report on the national office market, which revealed that December 2017’s 11.5 percent vacancy rate was the lowest reported in 10 years.

Significant net absorption in markets such as Dallas/Fort Worth; San Jose/Silicon Valley; Seattle; Northern Virginia; and Austin, Texas, contributed to this decline in vacancy, as did a deceleration in new construction starts during the fourth quarter. Ryan Tharp, director of research for Transwestern’s Dallas office, noted that while Dallas led absorption in 2017 with nearly 5.3 million square feet, the majority of major markets contributed to this consistent downward trend.

“Miami, for example, posted a 10-year low in overall vacancy during 2017 with an average 150,000 square feet of positive absorption each quarter. The strength of the office market is not confined to a few specific metros or regions,” said Tharp. Healthy rent growth also