Mid-Year 2013 Suburban Chicago Office Market Report

The suburban Chicago office market continued to improve during the first six monthsof the year. The overall, direct vacancy and sublease availability all slightly decreased to 18.3%, 17.4% and 2.7%, respectively. Although, the overall vacancy remains elevated at 18.3%, the real dynamics reflect those of a much tighter market, perhaps one with a vacancy rate as low as 13%. A good portion of the space that sits physically vacant today is “The Last Mile” of space—perhaps 5-10% of any given property—where landlords have a diminished desire to be aggressive to get the last deals done. As a result, this skews the overall statistics.