It’s back to the ’07 peak with rents up and the vacancy down to 9.1% in Boston’s CBD and 4% in Cambridge, thanks to job growth that beats the national average, JLL’s Q2 report tells us. An “amazing” 80% of Greater Boston tenants are looking for expansion space but with availability so low, many are content to expand at their current address. Of the $4B investment sales, $2.2B were Cambridge assets.
The star of the story is Cambridge, population 100,000; one-sixth the size of Boston. Investment sales were so brisk, in part, thanks to East Cambridge/Kendall Square. Class-A average asking rents are $69.37, up from $49.75 two years ago. Downtown in the Financial District, Class-A asking rent is $57.43, up from $52.03 two years earlier. Throughout the region, nearly 5M SF are in construction.
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