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Signs of slow improvement continue to emerge in suburban Chicago, particularly in Class A Space Although the Chicago suburban office market appears to have stabilized, there is no escaping that significant excess supply, both direct and sublease space, continues to overhang the market. The good news is that leasing activity, which re-emerged and accelerated last year, helped stem the deterioration in market fundamentals. It was encouraging to see that trend continue early this year. A healthier level of demand was evident throughout the first quarter, which helped push the overall availability rate down to 27.3%, which is an improvement from the year-end availability rate of 28.1%. The direct vacancy rate ended the quarter at 23.3%. |