Is Sequestration Behind Us?
Lindsay Lohan could take a lesson from whomever does PR for sequestration. We haven't seen any news on it in a month. But is the threat gone? With Q1 in the books, office leasing doesn't have much to boast, but the worst may truly be in the rear view.
CBRE research whiz Jeff Kottmeier says it's no secret that leasing remains stagnant across DC, MD, and VA. But now that the election, sequestration, and most recently, budget concerns have been dealt with (or kicked down the road), firms can create more concrete real estate plans, though Jeff doesn't expect any big leasing dominoes to fall this year. A major positive, he says, is strong Q1 local employment numbers--although job growth is concentrated among non-office user types like education and healthcare, solid job numbers should translate to increased office demand.
Jeff says the remaining uncertainty will still have its consequences: Rents likely won't grow much, and developers with projects slated to break ground this year might shift construction out a year or later. But we won't see large blocks of space being shed from either public or private tenants, he tells us. And while activity will move slowly, in six to nine months"we'll have a clearer picture of where things are heading" with the budget, sequestration, and spending.
