Miami’s suburban office market shines during Q3: report

Miami’s suburban office market is strengthening as space gets more expensive in the Central Business District, a preliminary third quarter report from CBRE Group shows.

Suburban markets in Miami enjoyed a vacancy rate drop from 14.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014 to 14.3 percent in the third quarter. The overall Miami office vacancy rate fell from 15.5 percent to 15.3 percent during that span.

Asking rents for the entire Miami market increased from $30.83 per square foot in the second quarter to $31.02 per square foot in the third quarter. Suburban asking rents dropped five cents to $27.67 per square foot.

With 180,000 of positive absorption through the first nine months of 2014, Coral Gables led other Miami submarkets by a wide margin.

“A tighter market and rising rents in Downtown and Brickell are making suburban markets, like Coral Gables and Airport/Doral, far more attractive to occupiers,” CBRE Florida executive managing director Mary Jo Eaton said. “The rents are more competitive and there are generally larger blocks of space available.” — Eric Kalis