Category: Industry News & Analysis

The year started on a high note for the Seattle office market with stronger vacancy and rental rates, as well as positive absorption by the end of the first quarter.

With the strong economy in Seattle, vacancy rates improved to 13.50% compared to 13.68% in Q4 and 15% in Q1 of last year. Additionally, asking rental rates continued to improve to a high this market has not seen since Q3 of 2008.

The quarter’s year-to-date absorption ended on a positive at 84, 809 square feet. Projected new office space inventory under construction jumped up to by 1.7 million square feet with two notable projects – 400 Fairview and Troy Block in Lake Union, 1007 Stewart Office Tower in Central Business District and Hawk Tower at Stadium Place in Pioneer Square.

To purchase the full quarterly report or for further information, please contact John Heimbigner at [email protected].

OfficeSpace.com released its Seattle Office Market Q2 Quarterly Report today to a steady market and significant office expansions.

Vacancy rates have remained steady rising slightly from 14.4% in Q1 to 14.5% in Q2 while rental rates increased slightly from $25.83 to $26.38 respectively.

The biggest change in Seattle is the anticipated major office expansion from Amazon.com in the Denny Regrade neighborhood. This expansion is expected to add 3,000,000 square feet of class A office space. Additionally, Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has proposed increasing the office tower limit to 240 feet, up from the current 124 feet in South Lake Union.

To purchase this report for more information on major expansions and a breakdown of absorption rates by submarket, please contact John Heimbigner at [email protected].

The year ended on a high note for the Seattle office space market in 2011.  Net absorption for 2011 ended just over 1.6 MM sq.ft, almost double the net absorption for 2010.  2011 also marked the best year since a high of 2006 that ended in a little over 3 MM sq. ft of net absorption.

While the overall vacancy rate for the Seattle market didn’t change dramatically over 2010, there is a good story once you dive into the details.  We ended Q4 2011 with 14.8% vacancy in the Seattle office market compared to 15.3% in Q4, 2010.  And while the changes don’t appear significant, there’s a story going on in the Downtown submarket.  Last quarter, several significant leases were closed with Amazon taking 386,000 sq. ft. and a total of over 800,000 sq. ft.  The impact of these leases definitely showed up when we looked at the Downtown area vacancy rates which dropped to 12.9% this last quarter compared to 15.1% in Q4 2010.

Average rental rates remained fairly steady for all of 2011 ending the year at $25.80 per sq. ft slightly lower than the $25.89 in 2010.  However, as the supply and demand paradigms shift due to lower office space availability, particularly of larger spaces in the Downtown area, we would anticipate this to have a positive impact on rental rates.