It's Too Late For An Oil Rebound To Save Houston's Office Market
Houston's office market isn't in dire shape yet, but it's too late for a rebound in oil prices to mitigate the damage. CBRE's latest report shows a 19.8% availability rate in Q2. That's the highest point since 1995.
The harsh truth is there is no quick fix. 4.2M SF is still in the pipeline and CBRE estimates another 1M will go on the already glutted sublease market in Q3. Digesting the oversupply will not be pretty and it will not be quick. Developers have built more than 26M SF in the last five years. With numbers like these, the likelihood of a new office building starting in the next few years is slim to none, CBRE reports.
For the first time in 21 months, Houston's office market had negative absorption, just 67k SF for now, but expect that number to rise. Consider this the captain turning the seat belt sign on; turbulence is imminent.
