Austin Market Update: Office Vacancy Continues to Fall

In July, Austin’s office vacancy rate shrunk for the third consecutive month, reaching 16.1 percent, according to CommercialEdge data. That’s a 30-basis-point drop month-over-month, as well as a 670-basis-point increase compared to the same period in 2020.

Austin’s vacancy is slightly below the national average of 15.5 percent, which saw a 10-basis-point drop month-over-month. The metro is among the Sun Belt cities that have experienced population influx and economic growth in the past years, a trend that accelerated with the pandemic-induced migration flow. With a nation-leading pipeline relative to stock, Austin’s decreasing vacancy is another testament of the metro’s strength.

Secondary growth markets, such as Charlotte (15.2 percent) and Phoenix (17.7 percent) have similar vacancy rates to that of Austin, while primary, mature markets, such as Atlanta (19.9 percent), Dallas (19.4 percent) and Houston (23.5 percent) are lagging.

Downtown Austin’s office vacancy exceeded the metro’s overall rate by 2.3 percent. Austin East (31.8 percent) remains the submarket with the highest vacancy, followed by Northwest (22 percent) and Northeast (19.6 percent). Round Rock (6.1 percent) overpassed Austin North (6.5 percent) in July, becoming the submarket with the lowest vacancy.

CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here.