While other markets have seen office construction dry up, the Dallas market is an exception: As JLL says in a second-quarter report, larger office developments are still breaking ground in the city and its surrounding communities.
Examples? JLL points to Bank of America Tower Parkside and The Knox office projects that delivered in the Dallas market in the second quarter. JLL reported that the office development pipeline here stood at more than 5.1 million square feet even as other markets across the country have seen dramatic slowdowns in new office construction.
Overall, JLL says, the fundamentals of the Dallas office market remained consistent throughout the second quarter of the year. The market has seen improved absorption numbers and a healthy leasing volume.
This doesn’t mean, though, that the Dallas office market isn’t facing challenges. JLL reported that the total office vacancy rate in the Dallas office market stood at 26.6% as of the end of the second quarter.
That is only a small increase, though, from the 26.3% office vacancy rate in the first quarter of the year, JLL reported. And much of the office vacancy is concentrated in a small portion of buildings, with JLL research indentifying that nearly 60% of vacancies can be found in just 10% of area office buildings.
The Class-A direct asking rent did rise, though, to an average of $38.81 a square foot in the second quarter. The overall office direct asking rent stood at an average of $35.25 a square foot in the second quarter.
Notable new office leases in the second quarter include Santander’s renewal for 211,087 square feet at Santander Tower, Onsemi’s 97,496-square-foot lease at 505 Millenium and Jones Day announcing its 73,000-square-foot relocation within the Harwood District to the soon-to-be-built Harwood No. 15.
JLL said that tenants are continuing to evaluate their office space needs, something that is influencing average lease sizes and lengths. According to JLL’s report, office leases of less than 5,000 square feet continue to make the majority of deals signed in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, with 578 of the quarter’s 685 tracked leases falling in that range.