Demand for office space in the District should rise significantly in 2016, thanks to the upcoming presidential election.
The office market has typically thrived during presidential election years, with average demand rising around 19.7%, reports GlobeSt. That translates to 5.7M SF of growth, well ahead of the average 4.8M SF of growth in a non-election year.
Beyond the space needs for the candidates and their campaigns, several other factors help to drive demand around election time. The end of a presidential term brings with it a rush to pass legislation, leading to an increase in special interest and lobbying, which in turn helps to spike leasing demand in the DC metro office market.
Several DC submarkets are heading towards the single digits in office vacancy rates, but there remains a substantial amount of inventory on the market. If history is any guide, there should be some serious headway made into clearing that out in 2016. [GS]
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