Office Pricing Plummets in 1Q17

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles offices sales volume plummeted in the 1Q17. Sales activity fell 36% year-over-year and pricing for office properties fell 46% per square foot year-over-year, according to a new report from Commercial Café. The decline in activity was surprising, considering that Los Angeles had its strongest office performance in a decade in 2016, and 4Q16 was the best quarter in four years.

“A total of 22 office deals closed in the first three months of 2017, encompassing 5 million square feet of space and totaling $1.5 billion in dollar volume; however, we believe that as the year progresses a more robust annualized number will show a more favorable increase,” Doug Ressler, senior research officer at Yardi Matrix, tells GlobeSt.com. “From a comparison Q4 for 2016 when compared to the previous 3 quarters for 2016 and was comprised of high dollar volumes located in West LA area.”