The suburban office market absorbed more space than Chicago’s downtown market during all four quarters of 2014, according to NAI Hiffman’s Year-End 2014 Office Market Peak. During the fourth quarter alone, the suburbs absorbed nearly 590,000 SF, compared to only 24,000 SF in the Central Business District.
Over the course of 2014, the suburban office market absorbed just shy of 1.9 million SF of vacant space, nearly doubling the absorption recorded in the suburbs throughout all of 2013.
The suburban vacancy rate dropped by 132 basis points during 2014, ending the year with a 18.6% vacancy rate. This rate is 5.1% below the 23.7% peak rate recorded just over 4 years ago.
The downtown vacancy rate ended the year at 11.9%, a 57 basis point improvement over the course of 2014, and a rate 5.1% below the peak rate recorded in mid-2010.
