Metro Atlanta's office rents are... up
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Offices in metro Atlanta posted record rents in the first quarter of this year as companies flocked to newer buildings with fancy amenities, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Why it matters: Sure, work from home has become popular and has changed the way we do our jobs — but companies still want a place where workers can collaborate.
Details: Metro Atlanta's average asking rate — the rents building owners offer to tenants — "climbed to $30.06 per square foot, eclipsing the $30-mark for the first time in market history," the company's Q1 report says.
- Suburban submarkets were home to four of the five largest leases signed in the metro region. The Georgia 400 corridor claimed the two largest: American Honda Finance Corporation and Verint.
Yes, but: Midtown was the region's only submarket to show an improvement in its vacancy rate during the first quarter.
Companies pre-leasing space in under-construction buildings, coupled with large leases signed last year, should drive down vacancy rates in 2022, the researchers say.
What's next: More than 3.3 million square feet of new office space was under development during the first three months of 2022 — more than 60% of which was located in Midtown. Much of that new construction is speculative, Cushman & Wakefield says — "a byproduct of Atlanta’s growing appeal to corporate heavyweights in the technology and finance industries."
Other notable developments on the horizon, according to the firm:
- Midtown Union, where Invesco will take up more than half of the nearly 600,000 square feet of space
- New City's new project (and future home of Mailchimp) along the Beltline's Eastside Trail
- One Phipps Plaza in Buckhead, a 365,000 square-foot development that will house Goldman Sachs and Novelis