The numbers are staggering.
Nearly one quarter of all office space in Los Angeles is available for rent, a level not seen since 2009.
Around 51 million square feet of space is vacant or available for sublease.
And overall sublease vacancy is up 90 percent since the start of the pandemic.
Those were among the key findings from Savills’ first quarter office market report, according to Commercial Observer.
Savills attributes the spike in subleasing to the rise in overall availability, as the pandemic has led more companies to pivot long-term to remote work. The amount of sublease space on the market in L.A. now stands at 9 million square feet.
Tenants leased just 2 million square feet of office space in the first three months of the year, according to Savills, about half as much as what was leased over the same period last year.
Savills expects the market to remain favorable for tenants for at least the next 18 to 24 months. Their options will “remain abundant as the market continues to see a rise in both sublease and direct availabilities,” according to the report.
Despite the rise in availability, average rents across all classes were up 3 percent to $3.85 a foot per month, Savills noted. Class A rents were around $4.07 a foot.
A massive amount of newly built space is also hitting the L.A. market this year. Developers are on track to deliver 6.9 million square feet of office space in 2021, which is more than any other market in the country.
[CO] — Dennis Lynch