U.S. Office Market: Healthy Fundamentals in First Quarter of 2019
CHICAGO – Asking rents trended higher, remaining in record territory, while the U.S. office market posted its 34thconsecutive quarter of positive absorption, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Q1 U.S. Office MarketBeat. Maintaining an upward trajectory that began in early 2011, U.S. office average asking rents continued to trend higher, reaching a record high of $31.97 per square foot (psf) in the first quarter of 2019. The national average asking rent was up 1.5% from the Q4 2018 and 3.9% year over year (YOY). Since reaching a trough in the second quarter of 2011, the national average rent has increased 29.7%. Seventy of the 86 markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield recorded increases in asking rent YOY, the largest number of markets with rising rents since the end of 2015. After a strong fourth quarter of 2018, job growth slowed slightly in the first quarter of 2019, impacting the U.S. office market. Employment in office-using industries—financial services, profe...