Cleveland Office Market
Direct space availability decreased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2024 by 160 basis points from the third quarter to 19.7%, representing 7.8 million SF. This is the lowest that direct space availability has been since the second quarter of 2022. Sublease space availability stayed at a flat 1.5%. The market accrued 160,328 SF of positive absorption in the fourth quarter of 2024, propelling the market out of the negative for a yearly total of 138,705 SF in net positive absorption. The market finished the year in the positive for the first time since 2019. The quarterly positive absorption caused the vacancy rate to dip by 30 basis points to 27.8%. For the year 2024, the vacancy rate came in at 23.1%. The Cleveland office market’s average asking rental rate decreased by $0.01/SF from the third quarter of 2024 to $19.96/SF in the fourth quarter. As a result, the 2024 year-to-date average asking rent total held steady at $19.96/SF.
Download Cleveland Office Market Report 4Q24Cleveland Industrial Market
The Cleveland industrial market tallied negative 164,185 SF of absorption in the fourth quarter, bringing the year-end total to a positive 1.5 million SF. The industrial vacancy rate held steady at 4.1% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter of 2024. For the year 2024, the market stood at 4.1% vacancy, up from the overall 3.9% in 2023 but well below the long-term average vacancy trendline of 7.8%. For the fourth quarter of 2024, quarterly demand for industrial space was at its lowest point since the first quarter of 2019’s 1.1 million SF. Total leasing activity for the quarter measured approximately 1.4 million SF, down from 2.2 million SF in the third quarter. For all of 2024, industrial leasing activity’s up and down roller coaster measured 7.8 million SF. Industrial average asking rents grew in 2024 by 5.5% over 2023’s combined average. The average asking rent for the year 2024 was $6.15/SF; the fourth quarter saw an average asking rent of $6.02/SF, which was down by $0.13/SF from the previous quarter, and subsequently brought down the yearly total by $0.04/SF from the previous quarter.