ATLANTA - New research says the amount of vacant office space continues to break records in Atlanta.
According to data from the real estate services firm CBRE, more than 2.2 million square feet of office leases were signed in the Atlanta area during the first quarter of 2024.
That's the most activity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
Unfortunately, CBRE also reports that, despite the increase in new leases and renewals, Atlanta is still facing many office spaces that have been left empty.
The firm estimates around 32.4% of all office square footage was available - a number that CBRE says "continues to break records."
The data showed the Downtown Atlanta submarket accounted for almost 54.7% of the total vacated space.
"Overall, the stubbornly high availability rate in Atlanta continues to be the result of corporate tenants with substantial footprints offloading unneeded space amidst economic distress, the firm wrote in its report. "Many of these tenants are opting to sublease entire buildings and consolidate their leases into a single location. In some cases, owner-occupiers are going as far as shedding HQ locations and regional satellite offices in an effort to mitigate the impact of current economic conditions.
Despite the vacant properties, CBRE also found that the overall asking price for office space increased to $31.46 per square foot in the first quarter of the year.