CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. national office market absorbed 13 million square feet of space during the fourth quarter 2013 - the highest level recorded since 2007, and a 24.5 percent increase over the highest quarterly net absorption levels over the past six years, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's 2013 National Office Market Report. In total, approximately 40 million square feet of positive net absorption was recorded for the year - a notable increase over the 28.2 million square feet of occupancy gains across the national office market in 2012.

The last three months of 2013 also marked the 15(th) consecutive quarter with positive net absorption. In addition, of the 44 major downtown and 55 suburban markets, 80 percent of geographies recorded positive absorption levels between October and December. Further, more than 65 percent of the national office markets reported higher tenant touring activity heading into 2014 - the fourth consecutive quarter of increases.

"These findings show a cohesive, across-the-board tightening in fundamentals, an uptick in overall activity and broadening recovery," said John Sikaitis, Managing Director Local Markets and Office Research with Jones Lang LaSalle. "After five years of recovery defined by geographic and industry segmentation, increased leasing, touring and absorption helped supply and demand metrics align for the overall national office market in 2013."

As a result, Jones Lang LaSalle's report shows vacancy rates during the past 12 months dropped by 40 basis points to 16.6 percent - the lowest rate in five years. Overall, the Central Business Districts faired better than their suburban counterparts with a 13.9 percent vacancy rate at the end of 2013 compared to 18.2 percent in the suburbs. While still high, the suburban vacancy rate is down a noteworthy 140 basis points from 2012 levels.

As market dynamics shift toward a more stable office environment, landlord confidence continues to grow and for the 12(th) consecutive quarter, has fueled increased asking rents and decreased concessions across a broad range of markets. In fact, when looking at leverage for tenants in the market ahead, less than 10 percent of geographies JLL tracks will be tenant-favorable in 2015.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle's report, 76 percent of the national office market showed higher rents of an average of 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2013 alone and ended out the year some 3.5 percent higher then where they started.

Among the highlights for the year:


    --  New York and Washington, DC, the two largest office markets in the U.S.,
        accounted for more than five million square feet of net absorption -
        well over a third of national absorption gains between October and
        December and pushing the previously-dominant tech and energy markets
        into second place.  The strong year-end showing reversed the previous
        four-quarter trend where more than five million square feet was returned
        to the market.
    --  Throughout 2013, Texas stood out as the beacon of growth with Austin,
        Dallas, Houston and San Antonio posting 8.4 million square feet of net
        absorption - some 2.2 percent of overall inventory levels and double the
        rate of national growth over the past 12 months.
    --  Technology-driven markets continued to gain speed with Northern
        California tech hubs, the Pacific Northwest, Cambridge near Boston and
        New York's Midtown South regions recording 7.6 million square feet of
        net absorption for the year or 1.8 percent of total inventory levels.

Outlook 2014
Looking forward, brighter economic prospects should continue to push leverage in the landlords' favor until additional supply hits in mid-2015 into 2016. A combination of diminishing new supply and a dwindling number of large- and mid-sized blocks of space will keep mid-sized tenants as the main drivers of activity. The spreading of growth across industries and geographies should benefit such diversified economies as Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Tech and energy markets may begin to see signs of peaking in the next 12 months until immigration and energy reform efforts in Washington reignite the next phases of growth. Finally, should New York and Washington exhibit continued stability; fundamentals could exceed forecasts over the next couple of years.

Added Sikaitis, "What we will see over the next five to 10 years is that Millennials will replace the Baby Boomer generation as the stewards of the office market. That has a huge impact on where Millennials go, how they want to be, how they want to work and it's making some of the market challenged . . . It makes buildings without a sense of place, without amenities, without transit, without a story probably a bit more challenged than what they've experienced over the past 20 years."

For more information on the National Office Market, please view this brief video featuring John Sikaitis of Jones Lang LaSalle. Click to view the YouTube Video.

For more news, videos and research resources on Jones Lang LaSalle, please visit the firm's U.S. media center Web page. Bookmark it here: http://www.us.am.joneslanglasalle.com/UnitedStates/EN-US/Pages/News.aspx

About Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual revenue of $3.9 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle operates in 70 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services to a property portfolio of 2.6 billion square feet and completed $63 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2012. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $46.7 billion of real estate assets under management. For further information, visit www.jll.com.

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