Why Atlanta Office Rents Are About to Spike
Across the board, companies are bullish about their prospects for 2015 and beyond, Colliers International's Atlanta chief Bob Mathews tells us. As vacancies continue to drop, rents will climb, he predicts. Indeed, more than 520k SF was absorbed across the metro area, with Class-A space posting an even stronger 640k SF. According to Colliers' new Q3 office report, landlords have erased 2.3M SF of empty space (including 1.4M SF in Class-A).
And despite the market's spotty performance, PM Realty Group's Bill Weghorst says the tightening fundamentals plus a lack of new construction could spell 5% or greater rent bumps in the coming years, "which we've never seen here." He still maintains market activity doesn't seem to be robust, but given the turnaround time for a new building to deliver and be ready for leasing, landlords could see vacancies dip down into the low-double digits or even single digits (they're 16% right now) before new space comes online.
