Columbus Office Market
The Columbus office market absorbed 124,735 SF this past quarter, much lower than last quarter’s 708,390 SF, but still positive. While not a big change, the overall market’s positive absorption dipped the third quarter vacancy by 30 basis points to 22.4%, the lowest vacancy rate since the fourth quarter of 2022’s 21.1%. The third quarter of 2024 saw the lowest amount of leasing activity in the Columbus office market for a third quarter in at least 16 years, and the seventh lowest single quarter during that timeframe. The discrepancy between asking rates for Class A and B office properties widened for the third straight quarter, as Class A rates rose to $23.25/SF. Class B rates increased for the second straight quarter to $20.15/SF. There is now a $3.10/SF discrepancy between the two, a $0.05/SF increase from the previous quarter.
Download Columbus Office Market Report 3Q24
Columbus Industrial Market
After recording negative absorption for the first half of the year, the market saw a more robust 2.7 million SF of positive absorption in the third quarter, helping to offset the prior two quarters’ negative return and propel the year-to-date absorption to positive 1.7 million SF. However, the third quarter vacancy rate did increase by 40 basis points from the prior quarter to 8.2% after 4.4 million SF of new inventory delivered, a good portion of which was build-to-suit product, but the addition of that much space to the inventory, some of which was empty, had an impact. The third quarter’s average asking rental rate was $5.93/SF, down by $0.02/SF from the previous quarter. Following a significant dip in leasing activity in the first quarter, second and third quarter activity picked back up reaching over 3.8 million SF in the third quarter. Overall tenant demand is still muted, though with the market rightsizing over the next several quarters, a moderated sense of optimism for 2025 has emerged.