Chicago’s Industrial Market Slides
One of the nation’s largest industrial markets, Chicagoland, posted a 14-year high vacancy rate of 9.86% in the third quarter, according to a newly released report from Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler, The vacancy rate has risen for four straight quarters. The Chicago market also has experienced three straight quarters of negative net absorption. Net absorption, the net change in space taken or given back by tenants from one quarter to the next, contracted by 5.4% in the third quarter alone, the lowest rate since Colliers, Bennett & Kahnweiler began tracking the metric in 1998.
Office Sublease Space Floods San Francisco
Two of the San Francisco area’s top industries — legal and financial services — are dumping several hundred thousand square feet of sublease space onto the city’s office market, according to a new study by Studley, a tenant representation firm. At the end of the third quarter, some 1.6 million sq. ft. of sublet space was available. Meanwhile, office leasing activity hit its lowest level since 2001, with 7 million sq. ft. in deals completed over the 12-month period ending Sept. 30.