(Cleveland) - As you might suspect, 2020 turned out to be a bad year for commercial property owners in Cleveland, according to a study by the research arm of one local property owner.
Newmark Knight Frank, which owns and manages a number of office buildings in Greater Cleveland, says the vacancy rate has grown to 17.6%. The office market has a net absorption of minus 406,142 square feet, meaning that much more office space is now unoccupied.
NKF's study says Cleveland's office market did poorly in 2019 until the fourth quarter, when it began to rebound, which carried over into the first quarter of 2020. The market began to feel the effects of COVID-19 in the second quarter, and continued its downward spiral after that.
The study says the outlook for 2021 is uncertain, as lackluster leasing continued as 2020 ended. According to NKF, negativity can be seen in every office class in Northeast Ohio.
(Photo by Ken Robinson, WTAM)
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