Savills: Boston’s Q3 office market leasing activity hits two-year high

Leading global real estate services firm Savills has released their Q3 market report revealing a strong quarter for Boston’s office market as leasing activity hit a two-year high. 

Notably, Boston’s overall office leasing market showed significant gains in Q3 2024, with leasing activity totaling 3.4 million square feet (msf), up from 1.7 msf in the prior quarter and up from 2.6 msf a year ago. As mentioned, the third quarter leasing volume is also the highest level since the 3.5 msf reached in Q1 2022.

Some other key points of insight:

• The strongest quarter of leasing since Q1 2022 – Leasing for Q3 2024 totaled 3.4 msf , with key transactions from Vertex Pharmaceuticals (1.1 msf renewal) and Bain Capital (378K sf renewal/expansion).
• Availability hits record high despite increased leasing – The Q3 2024 availability rate for the overall Boston office market increased 260 basis points (bps) year over year to a record high of 21.3%.
• Average Asking rents reach new peak for Q3 – Average asking rent for the overall Boston market stood at $49.07 per square foot (psf) in the third quarter. This marks an increase of 2.3% over the previous quarter, as well as an 8.6% rise year over year for a new peak.
• Outlook of positivity – Given the positive trends emerging on the leasing and employment fronts, Q4 has the strong potential to serve as an inflection point for availability rates.

View Savills >>