By The Numbers: US Office Construction Activity Analysis

In looking at the current office construction activity throughout the U.S., a number of things jump out at me:

• Atlanta has just over 4,000,000 SF under construction with only 15% preleased. Drilling into the data shows me that 2,000,000 SF of that is in five buildings in the Buckhead submarket where under 2% has been preleased. This is a recipe for disaster.
• Seattle has over 6,000,000 SF of office space under construction, which seems inordinately high considering the size of Seattle.
• NYC has almost 13,000,000 SF under construction and is only 36% preleased. With the continuing troubles in the financial sector, I wonder how many of those leases will hold.