The commercial real estate market bounced back from a mediocre first quarter in the second quarter of the year, according to CBRE’s Q2 2018 office market report.
The real estate company said Monday that leasing velocity rose in the April-May-June segment in both central and northern New Jersey, driven by five new leases of more than 125,000 square feet apiece.
The quarter’s largest lease was Polo Ralph Lauren’s 255,017-square-foot signing at 100 Metro Blvd. in Nutley.
Other top lease transactions included:
- Confidential Insurance Co., 243,960 square feet, 100 Connell Drive, Berkeley Heights (renewal);
- Integra Life Sciences, 166,282 square feet, 1100 Campus Blvd., Princeton;
- Mars Wrigley Inc., 148,460 square feet, 100 Edison Place, Newark;
- JPMorgan Chase, 138,831 square feet, 480 Washington St., Jersey City.
Total leasing activity for the quarter came in at 1.9 million square feet, up 66.5 percent from the prior quarter and 6.4 percent higher than the five-year average, CBRE said.
“New Jersey rebounded nicely during the second quarter of the year, with large tenants either inking new leases or renewing their space commitments throughout the state,” Rémy deVarenne Jr., senior vice president, CBRE, said in a prepared statement. “In addition, national companies such as Mars Wrigley and Teva Pharmaceutical are coming to New Jersey from other states, bringing new jobs and economic vitality to the region.
“As we predicted in our first-quarter report, there is real optimism for the remainder of the year, especially on the leasing front, as several large deals that we are monitoring are on track to close in the third quarter of 2018.”
Net absorption for the quarter, however, came in at 193,000 square feet of negative absorption, reversing a positive mark in four of the five previous quarters. Year-to-date net absorption now stands at negative 85,000 square feet, CBRE said.
The average asking rent reached $26.47 per square foot, up 1.6 percent from the year-ago quarter. The figure also increased from the prior quarter, CBRE added.
The sales pace slowed for office properties, however, with only 13 new transactions recorded, down from 30 in the first quarter. The sales volume plummeted to $79.6 million from $481.6 million in the first quarter.
For the complete report, click here.
