Downtown Office Availability Space Rises For First Time In A Year
It was steady as she goes for the Chicago office market in Q2, according to the latest report from Savills Studley. The biggest takeaway: there's plenty of space available.
The overall downtown availability rate rose 50 bps in Q2, to 15.2%, spurred by the construction of new Class-A product in Fulton Market and the Far West Loop. Class-A availability also rose in the Central Loop, to 15.7%.
Asking rents surged to their highest averages in several quarters, to $37.45/SF. That's a 3% increase over Q1. And leasing rose 16% to 2.8M SF. Tenants leased 13.3M SF the past four quarters, obliterating the long-term average of 8.9M SF by 51%.
The arrival of new Class-A office space does not bode well for trophy properties. Asking rents for these buildings stood at nearly $54/SF in Q2, while the availability rate rose to 17.4%.
