Houston sees negative office absorption in 1Q 2013

HOUSTON – Houston’s office market recorded a negative net absorption of 690,452 sf in first quarter 2013, compared with 837,370 sf of positive net absorption racked up during Q1 2012, according to Avison Young.

The negative absorption has prompted the vacancy rate to increase by 50 basis points from the previous quarter to 11.2 percent out of a total inventory of 219.7 million sf.

The absorption and vacancy drops have led to a downward pressure on rents. Full-service asking rates, overall, declined by $0.21 per sf from the previous quarter to $23.88 per sf. The exception is asking rates among Class A product, which climbed from $31.18 per sf to $31.54 per sf.

Read more at GlobeSt.com.