Leasing activity was healthy, according to national commercial real estate firm Studley’s, third quarter report. The overall availability rate was 15.8 percent, according to the firm.
Washington, DC and New York continued as the tightest markets, posting availability rates of 7.0 percent and 10.0 percent respectively, while Orange County, Suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia followed with rates of 11.9 percent, 11.9 percent, and 12.1 percent.
But Dallas/Fort Worth with an overall availability rate of 25.8 percent, Atlanta with 21.3 percent and Denver with 21.4 percent, remained the nation's softest markets.
Although overall rents increased by 8.5 percent from last year to an average of $23.71, that rate is still lower than at its peak of $25.43 at midyear 2001. All markets showed yearly overall rent increases, with the exception of Houston whose overall rent showed no annual change. Cities posting the most growth in rental rates were San Francisco (+24.5 percent), Northern Virginia (+10.6 percent) and Orange County (+9.9 percent).
Overall, leasing activity totaled 47.4 million square feet, which represents an increase of 1.2 percent from the same period a year ago.
