BOSTON—A strengthening economy fueled significant tenant demandin the fourth quarter and helped produce what commercial brokeragefirm Transwestern | RBJ describes as the city'smost dynamic year since 2006.

Transwestern | RBJ Northeast research director ChaseBourdelaise says the strong job market is fueling tenantdemand and positive space absorption in Boston and surroundingareas such as Cambridge and the Route 128 markets. The officevacancy rate for Greater Boston ended 2015 at 12.1%, virtually flatas compared to year's-end 2014. The average vacancy rate for 2015was 12.2%, the lowest rate since 2002. Class A asking rents in theregion rose to $42.06-per-square-foot. Asking rents haven't beenthat high since 2002, Transwestern reports.

"Each submarket in Greater Boston had significant positiveabsorption during the quarter, an excellent indicator of overallmarket health," says Bourdelaise. "Some areas had results not seenin more than a decade. Taken together, it was one of the mostdynamic quarters in the past decade."