Austin leads nation in sublease decline

By Parimal M. Rohit – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal

Austin has seen the biggest decline in sublease space in the country since the beginning of the year, according to data shared by CoStar Group Inc. It’s good news for anyone worrying about a glut of office space.Available sublease space for 2021 is at about 2.7 million square feet. That’s down from about 4 million square feet of available sublease space at the end of 2020.

San Francisco was a close second to Austin, also with a decline of about 1.3 million square feet of available sublease space through the first three quarters of 2021 — but it’s a much larger market. The San Francisco area had about 9.5 million square feet of sublease space available, year-to-date for 2021, compared to about 10.8 million square feet available at the end of 2020.

The San Diego market was third, nationally, in terms of sublease space taken off the market this year. The Southern California city saw a decline of 600,000 square feet of sublease space through the first three quarters of 2021, compared to 2020.