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Thursday, August 4, 2011

Unoccupied Office Space Brings new Opportunities for Businesses.

Rent office space at the Empire State building

America continues to show signs of recovery: in the real state market there has been a decreased foreclosure rate across the board and in the office space leasing industry increased occupancy rates.  It is an appropriate time for many businesses in America to get affordable office space.

A July 7 Wall Street Journal article discusses the occupancy situation and cites a study done by the real-estate research firm Reis Inc whose findings relate the still slow growth and adds that “The measured pace of growth in the office sector has only begun to chip away at the vast quantities of unfilled space across the country. Between January 2008 and September 2010, tenants emptied out of 138 million square feet, pushing the vacancy rate from 12.6% to 17.6%.” The growth of office occupancy is another piece of evidence of a slowly but steady healing economy.

The momentum seems right, for businesses on the recovering end of the recession, to take action and rent office space, since there are unoccupied spaces across America at desirable rates. New York sets the standard for office space being the bigger office suite market in America as well as the world and prices are again on the rise. Smart money says businesses can still get deals under the margin of the prerecession times which in 2008 marked a peak in office pricing.  

While the New York City office industry was evidently hit as prices plummeted due to the massive exodus out of its districts, since the beginning of this year pricing and occupancy have steadily risen. As an online broker, officelist.com has experienced a steady growth on the amount of leads in Manhattan since January. This trend further demonstrates the upward shifting for the industry. It is actually a favorable time to get space because when space was extremely cheap, people were massively leaving offices.

Furthermore, this economic upturn could bring about interesting opportunities for all size businesses to get office space in places like Manhattan and Chicago before they catch up with the prerecession era.  It is a good idea for many businesses to take advantage of the momentum and get the perks of premier office locations while the price allows it, locking the rates for the lease term they choose.

As America continues to show signs of recovery, many businesses are beginning to rent office space again at prices that are below the prerecession time. The momentum seems right, for businesses on the recovering end of the recession, to take action and rent office space, since there are unoccupied spaces across the country.

Sources:
Brown, Eliot "Employers Are Occupying More Space, but at a Slower Pace" online.wsj.com. July 7, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303982504576428142672445326.html?mod=residential_real_estate

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