Demand in Boston's office sector is back to pre-pandemic levels. That's based on the market's 131,832 square feet of positive net absorption, which was the highest seen since 2019.
The demand was driven by two deals mainly: RA Capital's expansion signing at 200 Berkeley Street and DCAMM’s lease at 40 Broad Street. Other notable leases included Anduril Industries taking 162,000 square feet in Waltham and Forrester Research's renewal, but downsizing to 118,000 square feet in West Cambridge.
"Transaction activity was robust across all major clusters, highlighted by several large block leases," JLL explained.
The appetite for deals comes as office vacancy dipped for the fourth straight quarter to 21.2 percent.
Also, asking rents enjoyed a strong 2.6 percent gain to $45.93 per square foot. Interestingly, this was driven by office availability going up by labs getting repurposed for office use; typically, more supply can pressure CRE fundamentals — but in this case, it served as a positive because the properties were "high-end and well-located," according to JLL. Class A office rates in Boston averaged $51.85 per square foot.
Just over 1.75 million square feet of product was under construction and preleasing was at 54.1 percent, as of June.
For the remainder of 2025, JLL expects the strong momentum for office activity to continue in the city. This will especially be the case for the higher-quality spaces.
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