Cleveland Office Market
Leasing activity was 307,875 SF in the first quarter of 2024, the fourth lowest quarterly total in at least the last 24 years (the fourth quarter of 2021 had the lowest leasing activity in recent history at 191,907 SF). The Cleveland office market accrued 176,680 SF of negative absorption in the first quarter of 2024. Negative absorption caused vacancy to increase to 23.4%, up 50 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2023. Since 2020, the Cleveland market has emptied a total of nearly 2.4 million SF of office space due to negative absorption. The overall average asking rental rate increased by $0.04/SF from the fourth quarter of 2023 to $19.99/SF in the first quarter of 2024. Nine of the last 10 years (the exception being 2020 as the pandemic took hold) have all seen year-over-year asking rental rate growth.
Download Cleveland Office Market Report 1Q24Cleveland Industrial Market
The Cleveland industrial market tallied 992,647 SF in positive absorption in the first quarter and there was no new product delivered. As a result, the vacancy rate decreased by 30 basis points to 4.3% from 4.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Vacancy has remained below the long-term average of 8.0% since 2014. In the first quarter of 2024, demand for industrial space was at its lowest since the first quarter of 2021. Total leasing activity for the quarter measured approximately 1.5 million SF, down from 2.0 million SF in the previous quarter. The average asking rent for the first quarter was $6.21/SF, the highest ever for the Cleveland industrial market – up by $0.03/SF from the previous quarter, marking 10 straight quarters of asking rates at or over $5.00/SF and two straight quarters over $6.00/SF.