Savills Studley: Rents Trended Upward in Q1

HOUSTON—Rents are trending upward; leasing activity is down. These are two of the headlines from Savills Studley's recent first quarter 2015 report on the Houston office market.

“Availability soared in Houston's office market as sublease and new construction spaces hit the market amidst prolonged energy uncertainty,” Tim Wingfield, Savills Studley Research, told GlobeSt.com.

• Rents trend upward: Overall asking rent, $29.65, rose quarterly by 4.1 percent because of an increase of high-quality availabilities. The class A rate, $36.24, grew by 2.1 percent.

• Leasing activity plummets: Overall leasing totaled 2.1 MSF, down by 45 percent from last quarter's 3.8 MSF. On a trailing four-quarter basis, volume attained 12.7 MSF, a drop of 12 percent from last quarter's 14.5 MSF.

• Availabilty rents jump: The region's overall availability rate, 20.5 percent, increased by 2.7 pp from last quarter. The class A rate, 21.2 percent, soared by 3.9 pp.

• Outer submarkets open up: Westchase's availability rate, 20.0 percent, increased by 6.0 pp from last quarter. Katy Freeway increased by 7.7 pp to 26.0 percent and The Woodlands increased by 6.5 pp to 17.0 percent. In contrast, the CBD's availability rate increased by 0.3 pp and West Loop's increased by 0.7 pp.