The Dallas office market began 2024 with continued demand, but with modest demand.
The office sector had 2.5 million square feet of leased space in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by commercial real estate services firm JLL.
In addition, absorption area was -1.1 million square feet. This is the amount of space leased minus the amount of space freed. JLL announced a total vacancy rate of 26.2% in Dallas.
More sublease space also came on the market during the quarter, totaling more than 8.6 million square feet.
JLL reported that 63.5% of projects currently in development are already pre-leased. Projects like 23Springs in Dallas' Uptown neighborhood already have significant office space.
The company projects more than 5 million square feet of office space is under development in the Dallas area, with the largest areas in the Uptown/Oak Lawn and Grand Prairie/South Irving areas.
Corporate campuses such as Wells Fargo in Las Colinas in Irving and Goldman Sachs near the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas also contributed to high occupancy rates, JLL noted.
The Fort Worth area to the west remained relatively flat in the first quarter of this year, but the region's vacancy rate remains lower than Dallas' 18%.
JLL cites the Crescent Fort Worth delivery and pre-leasing activity as the catalyst for three groundbreaking announcements of office real estate in the West 7th Ward/Cultural District submarket.
Dallas-Fort Worth's significant population growth in 2023 is expected to benefit the region next year. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the region's population grew by 152,000 people last year.
