In a recent quarterly commercial real estate forecast from the National Association of Realtors, they are predicting that the office space market in the US will see only slight improvement over the next year with a small, .2%, reduction in the office vacancy rate and a modest 2.5% increase in rental rates.

Specifically, here is what they reported on the Office Space Market:

“Office Markets
Vacancy rates in the office sector are expected to decline from a projected 15.6 percent in the fourth quarter to 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The markets with the lowest office vacancy rates presently (in the fourth quarter) are New York City, with a vacancy rate of 9.8 percent; Washington, D.C., at 9.9 percent; Little Rock, Ark., 12.0 percent; and Nashville, Tenn., 12.9 percent.

Office rents should increase 2.4 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 2014. Net absorption of office space in the U.S., which includes the leasing of new space coming on the market as well as space in existing properties, is seen at 32.2 million square feet this year and 46.1 million in 2014.”