Suburban Single-Story Office Market Report: Mid-year 2021

Single-Story Office Records Positive Total Net Absorption for the First Time in Over a Year

The single-story suburban office market recorded 52,476 square feet of net absorption in the second quarter of 2021, the first quarter in the black after four consecutive quarters of negative net absorption. The second quarter figure was the largest on record since the 122,926 square feet of net absorption tallied in the third quarter of 2018. Three submarkets recorded positive net absorption on the quarter, led by the 37,686 square feet recorded in the I-55 Corridor. The Northwest Suburban submarket had 36,091 square feet of net absorption in the second quarter, making for a strong second place showing amongst its peer submarkets.

• The total vacancy rate was 16.60 percent to end the second quarter of 2021, an increase of 42 basis points year-over-year from the 16.18 percent vacancy rate recorded in the second quarter of 2020. Despite this marginal increase in vacancy over the course of the past year, the market remains in good shape – the current vacancy rate compares favorably to the 16.63 percent vacancy rate recorded in the first quarter of 2015.
• There was 283,921 square feet of leasing activity in the single-story suburban office market in the second quarter, a robust 145.0 percent improvement over the 115,879 square feet of leasing activity recorded at the height of pandemic uncertainty in the second quarter of 2020. Additionally, the nearly 284,000 square feet of activity was spread across 127 deals
• This was largest amount of deals in the market since the 130 deals tallied in the second quarter of 2016. The East-West Corridor led its peer submarkets with 82,752 square feet of leasing activity in the second quarter – 29.1 percent of total single-story suburban activity.

Additionally, the report includes a highlight of the Schaumburg single-story market, which also experienced its first quarter of positive net absorption since the first quarter of 2020. The Schaumburg area recorded a 28.50 percent total vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2021, a decrease of 275 basis points quarter-over-quarter from the 31.25 percent vacancy rate tallied in the first quarter of 2021.

Comprehensive details with in-depth charts and graphs can be seen in our full report:

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Mike Morrone
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mmorrone@hiffman.com