Lab Space: Hot Specialty In A Hot Market
It's no secret that greater Boston’s lab space market is hot. But it's always good to have some stats to back things up. According to the latest report on the market by Transwestern, bioSTATus, the market's really on fire.
For example, the greater Boston lab space market posted its lowest availability rate on record in Q2 '16, closing at 4.7%. During the first half of the year, developers delivered 250k SF of new lab, while tenants posted 354k SF of “take-up,” a measurement that tracks availability changes when leases are signed, intentions to vacate are announced or users break ground on new projects. “The market's definitely one of the hottest nationwide,” Transwestern Northeast research director Chase Bourdelaise (above) tells us.
Naturally, some submarkets are stronger than others. With the Cambridge market at only 2.2% availability, Boston and other suburban markets have seen positive spillover, Chase says. "The suburbs offer quality, and more affordable, alternatives.” The highest availability rate in Cambridge is in East Cambridge, at 2.7%, while Mid Cambridge has 1.7% open. West Cambridge has no available or vacant space. Vacancy in Boston is 2.5%, and other suburban markets enjoy availability of 10.7%, the lowest level since 2008, according to Transwestern.
