Metro Atlanta's office rents are... up

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