Though still below pre-financial-crisis rates, the first quarter of 2011 saw a steady increase in occupancy, according to findings from property research firm Reis.
Average rents rose by 0.5 per cent to $22.20 per square foot of office space.
Ryan Severino, an economist with Reis, told Bloomberg: “This is the first quarter, at least on a national basis, where the change is strong enough to qualify it as the first quarter of a recovery.
“We have finally gotten to an inflexion point where the good is starting to outweigh the bad.”
The report said that predictably, New York and Washington are at the forefront of the rise in occupancy rates. However, other regions in the country are also starting to see a pick-up.
The cities at the lowest end of the range are Detroit and Phoenix, which tie for the highest vacancy rate in the nation at 26.7 per cent.
Nationally, the vacancy rate dropped from 17.6 per cent in the fourth quarter to 17.5 per cent.
The figures are a sign of the US economy’s struggle to regain health, but inflation is still outpacing wage increases. For the last few months, consumer prices have been rising at an annual rate of 5.7 per cent, while average weekly pay has been rising at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent.
With President Obama recently announcing his bid for re-election, America’s economy will no doubt have centre stage in the election of 2012. Recently, the unemployment numbers dropped to 8.8 per cent, a boost for the president.
Obama’s approval ratings have risen in the past few months and now stand at about 50 per cent.
Editor’s notes: In the first quarter of 2023, the national office vacancy rate in the US stood at 20.2 per cent.
In New York City, the vacancy rate was 16.1 per cent, and in Washington DC, it was 20.8 per cent.
The highest office space vacancy rate was in San Francisco at 26.8 per cent, followed by New Jersey at 25.8 per cent.
The lowest office space vacancy rate was in West Palm Beach, at 10.3 per cent, followed by Grand Rapids, MI, at 13.2 per cent.
Average rental rates across the US reached $38.96 per square foot per year in Q1 2023, representing an increase of
0.3 per cent since Q4 2022.
It is believed that the increase was due to landlords maintaining headline rents by increasing tenants’ concessions, such as rent-free periods, and to a large proportion of leasing activity occurring in high-quality space as the flight to quality continued.
In April 2023, the US consumer price index reached an all-time high of 303.36 points. The average rate from 1950 to 2023 had been 121.23 points. The environment of high inflation and supply chain issues were cited as the reason for such a high figure.
April 2023’s figure reflected an annual growth rate of 4.9 per cent.
In the first quarter of 2026, the overall national office vacancy rate was 18.6 per cent, and the prime office vacancy rate was 12.7 per cent, reflecting the ongoing flight to quality.
In New York City, Midtown Manhattan’s prime vacancy rate was just 2.9 per cent.
The overall Manhattan office vacancy rate was 13.1 per cent in Q1 2026 and was 20.9 per cent in Washington, DC.
It was reported that nationwide net absorption totalled 6.9 million square feet, the highest Q1 total since 2020 and the eighth consecutive quarter of positive demand.
The average asking rent across Q1 2026 was $37.21 per square foot per annum, and the average taking rent nationwide was $33.35 per square foot.