Julie Whalen has an interesting way of describing the current office vacancy market both nationally and locally.
Whalen calls it a festering case of “dodgeball’.
“The only way that we can do that is by really understanding the why behind the tenants that are occupying our space,” Whalen said. “It could be office space, could be industrial space, it could be retail space. All of it has a why behind it," Whalen said.
So, what is the driving force behind the dodgeball-driven office market in a post-Covid world?
There are hybrid workers.
Then there’s financial institutions' reluctance to offer construction and development packages and the glut of available existing office space.
Taken together, it makes for a tough market and, perhaps, a tougher one in a mid-market city like Buffalo.
“So, first of all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We have been playing the game of dodgeball in the commercial real estate market entering our sixth year in Buffalo,” Whalen said.
In Buffalo, according to the latest CBRE Upstate New York data, there is a 16.5 percent vacancy rate. That’s the third year in a row the Buffalo vacancy rate has risen.
One point, Buffalo is doing better than the national CBRE average of an 18.9 percent office vacancy rate.
So, what does that mean?
Whalen explains:
“Corporate growth perspectives are in a good spot, so as long as you can attract some of them to actually continue to retain their footprint here is probably the very first thing that you have to think about. Then if you can get them to continue to grow it, you're in a good general trajectory,” Whalen said.
In other words, it should be an interesting year for the Buffalo office market.
