The U.S. office market generated $5.4 billion in first quarter sales, according to new data from CommercialEdge. This represents a 17% decline from the $6.5 billion from the first quarter of 2023 and significantly below the $18.9 billion generated two years earlier in the same period.
The average U.S. office listing rate stood at $37.74 in March, falling 1.3% year-over-year, while the national office vacancy rate came in at 18.2%.
Washington, D.C., led the nation in sales, with transactions totaling $999 million through the first quarter, while Boston’s under-construction pipeline accounted for more than 15% of the national stock currently underway.
CommercialEdge noted the life sciences hubs recorded a major share of the nation’s construction pipeline, with nearly 22 million square feet of life sciences space slated to be completed this year, up from 7.9 million square feet in 2023.
Another trend highlighted in the first quarter was suburban coworking space, which increased by nearly 9 million square feet compared to only 400,000 square feet in urban areas. The suburban share of national flex space has increased by 3 percentage points to 47% in the 12 months ending in March, whereas the share in urban submarkets dropped from 52% to 48%.
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