GSA Leasing Down 96%

WASHINGTON, DC-By Jones Lang LaSalle’s reckoning, lease awards by the General Services Administration in fiscal year 2012 fell 96% year-over-year. GSA scrutiny, gridlock in Congress and bipartisan support for reining in federal real estate expenditures were, of course, the reasons a slowdown in local fundamentals.

Specifically, according to JLL’s Federal Perspective 2013, new GSA lease awards fell from $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2011 to just over $45.9 million in the comparable period of 2012. The good news is that eventually demand will become so pent up that some action will have to be taken. Sooner or later, more likely sooner, federal officials will have to make space decisions on 44.6 million square feet of leases that are set to expire through the end of 2013. In 2014, there will be more than 20 million square feet scheduled to expire.