Suburban office absorption in the Chicago area has hovered near its previous peak levels, with three consecutive years of positive net absorption bringing vacancy rates down and availability tighter. Class A absorption has shown volatility but three years of gains are starting to impact the market. Several large companies absorbing space previously leased, such as Paylocity and Vyaire, will likely continue this trend in 2017.

1. Chicago – Suburban
Chart of the week: February 9, 2017
Source: JLL Research
Suburban absorption hovers near previous
peak
• Suburban absorption made a strong comeback with three consecutive years of positive net absorption
and is now hovering near the previous peak.
• While Class A absorption has always shown some volatility, three years of positive absorption are
starting to show in the market, as Class A availability tightens and vacancy drops.
• This trend will likely continue as companies occupy leases they inked in previous quarters, such as:
Paylocity and Vyaire.
-2,000,000
-1,500,000
-1,000,000
-500,000
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Absorption Recovery By Class
Class A Class B