Shelby King//October 29, 2014//
Office space in the Sunset Corridor is in demand and rents there are rising, according to a recent market report.
Vacancy in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area is 13.3 percent, slightly higher than the 11.5 percent rate during the previous cyclical low in 2006, according to data from real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Overall asking rents are $20.31 per square foot, the data shows. That is 46 cents higher than the previous peak of $19.85 in 2008.
Average asking rent changes for office space in the Sunset Corridor lagged vacancy changes by at least two years over the past two market swings. Between 2006 and 2009 vacancy rates in the area leapt from 11.5 percent to 20.3 percent, while asking rents rose slightly from $18.95 in 2006 to $19.85 in 2008, and then dropped to just under $19 per square foot in 2009.
When vacancy rates began falling again, reaching a low point in 2011 at just under 18 percent, asking rents were at $18.13, data shows. From that low point, they’ve continued to increase.
Jones Lang LaSalle research suggests that lagging rent bumps suggest that average rents will continue to increase dramatically over the next two years as vacancy rates continue to decline.