Columbus Office Market
The Columbus office market absorbed 310,931 SF this past quarter, more than doubling the third quarter’s results. The market finished the year with absorption in the positive for the second straight year, as 2024 accrued 1.0 million SF in positive net absorption. The overall market’s positive absorption dipped the fourth quarter vacancy by 60 basis points to 21.8%, the lowest vacancy rate since the fourth quarter of 2022’s 21.1%. For the year 2024, the vacancy rate came in at 22.8%, 140 basis points lower than the 2023 year-end total. At 492,821 SF, the fourth quarter of 2024 saw the lowest amount of leasing activity in the Columbus office market for a fourth quarter total since 2020, and the lowest single quarter of leasing activity since the second quarter of 2021. For the year 2024, at 2.3 million SF the market failed to reach the 16-year historical annual average of 2.9 million SF for the fifth straight year.
Download Columbus Office Market Report 4Q24
Columbus Industrial Market
Despite finishing the year at positive 1.2 million SF in net absorption, the Columbus industrial market’s 2024 tally was its lowest since 2010. The fourth quarter netted negative 600,744 SF feet of absorption, and the market’s 9.1% vacancy rate increased by 90 basis points from the prior quarter, which brought the rate for the year to 8.2%, and kept it higher than the 20-year long-term average vacancy rate of 7.7%. The closing of the 3.8 million SF Big Lots distribution center in the West submarket, along with Amazon moving out of 514,490 SF at 3538 Tradeport Ct. in the Rickenbacker submarket, put a damper on an otherwise solid quarter for the Columbus industrial market. Yearly rental rates have continued to go up since 2019, but growth has regressed. In fact, the fourth quarter’s average asking rental rate was $5.80/SF, down for the second straight quarter, and by $0.11/SF from the previous quarter.