According to a new report from CBRE, office leasing has fallen by 21.5 million square feet during the second quarter of 2020, marking the biggest fall since the Great Recession.
“Leasing activity in the second quarter fell by 44% year-over-year, increasing the national office vacancy rate by 70 basis points to 13%,” said analysts with CBRE. “COVID-19′s full impact on the U.S. office market was evident in second-quarter 2020 with the largest quarterly drop in demand since 2001.”
The slowdown in office space demand has led to a surplus of sublease space as companies look to put extra office space on the market.
According to the report, cities such as Austin, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco have seen a particularly large uptick in sublease space.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, office leasing decreased by nearly 2 million square feet of space as the pandemic continues to result in job losses and an economic dip.
