National Office Sublease Market Improves

There have been recent reports out that the national office sublease vacancy has decreased over the past several months. Cushman Wakefueld put a positive spin on this, which is welcome considering all the negative press the office market has had since Covid first struck, with the office availability going down from 146.3 million square feet to 145.1 million square feet. Yes, less than one percent, but still a downward trend. JLL, another of my competitors, gave two reasons for the decrease in office sublease space. Less space being placed on the market, and space taking off the market. I would add a third reason, that as time goes on there is less remaining term for the sublease, and at some point the space becomes direct space as the leases expire. I have seen this first-hand in my updating our regional vacancy. Brokers who had big blocks of vacant office space for sublease in early 2020 this past month told me they were off the listing, and to contact the landlord for a direct deal.