DALLAS-The Metroplex’s impressive job growth has positively impacted the region’s entire office market, but the Far North Dallas submarket is “on fire,” according to Mary Stoner Yost, executive vice president with Colliers International’s local office.

“There’s a shortage of good options,” Yost says, referring to Far North Dallas submarket, which primarily consists of the office nodes along the Tollway in Plano and Frisco. She tells GlobeSt.com that she is tracking more than 100,000 square feet of demand in the Far North Dallas submarket alone.

That demand ties directly into job growth, Yost notes. In fact, the North Texas economy strengthened considerably during the first half of 2011. Employment increased by 83,100 across the Metroplex from April 2010 to April 2011, representing a 2.9% gain. The Dallas/Fort Worth unemployment rate declined to 7.7% in April 2011, from a cyclical peak of 8.5% in January and from 8.1% a year ago.

During the second quarter, the market recorded 1.5 million square feet of net absorption, according to Delta Associates. That brings the mid-year total to roughly 2.1 million square feet. Delta Associates says the marketwide office vacancy rate stood at 17.7% at the end of the second quarter, down from 18.6% at the same time last year.

Yost points out that the occupancy rate for class A buildings in the Far North Dallas submarket are north of 90%. “There has been abundant space for the past five years, but the market has tightened significantly,” she adds. “The buildings that were built during the most recent development cycle have started to fill up and large blocks of class A space are hard to come by.”

For example, Golden Living inked a lease for 34,000 square feet at Legacy Town Center I. The company relocated from out of state. Meanwhile, Cain Waters committed to 42,000 square feet at Legacy Town Center III.

International Business Park, located at 6100 W. Plano Pkwy, signed more than 110,000 square feet in new leases including a 50,000-square-foot lease with Hyundai Capital and a 35,000-square-foot lease with Keste.

Demand is so strong in the Far North Dallas submarket that rents have started to increase and landlords have some pricing power, Yost contends. “Incentives are not as aggressive as they were,” she notes. In contrast, asking rents for market overall were relatively flat with just a .2% decrease during the first half of 2011, according to Delta Associates.