HOUSTON – A slowdown in Houston’s energy industry could cause direct office vacancy to hit 15 percent by 2017, up from 11.6 at the end of 2014, according to a new report by CBRE Research.
Almost 17 million square feet of office space is under construction in Houston. A total of 1.3 million sq. ft. of sublease space has been dropped on the market in 2015 with large blocks from Sasol, BP, Worley Parsons and Statoil, CBRE reported.
CBRE predicts rent growth will be flat in 2015 and rents will increase two to three percent in 2016 and 2017.