Chicago-Area Leasing Volume Dips to Near 2009 Trough

This article originally appeared on Connect Chicago.

All three of Chicago’s major leasing markets—CBD office, suburban office and Chicagoland industrial—saw the lowest volume of completed transactions since 2009 during the second quarter, Cresa reports. Although not necessarily reflective of the total square footage of deals done, it shows signs of the market slowing and further moving to a tenant’s market, says Cresa.

In the CBD, 305 leases were completed during Q2 for a total 2.3 million square feet. That’s the lowest tally since Q3 of 2009, where deals totaled 278 with total square footage at 1.5 million.

Similarly, it’s necessary to go back to the 2009 trough to find a lower transaction total for suburban office: 488 in this year’s second quarter, compared to 470 in Q2 2009.

For suburban industrial, Q1 with 372 deals and Q2 with 401 similarly represented 10-year lows, Cresa says. In fact, Q3 2009 had a higher square footage total.