The Washington, DC office market currently consists of 798 buildings, over 25,000 square feet, totaling approximately 152.2 million square feet of rentable space. Since spiking at 9.8% in April due to COVID-19, regional unemployment has been on a steady decline. As of November 2020, the unemployment rate for the District of Columbia improved to 7.5% and the Washington, DC Metropolitan area improved to 5.8%. The national unemployment rate decreased to 6.7%.
The DC Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) lost 179,700 jobs from Nov 2019-Nov 2020, representing a contraction of 5.3% YOY. Even though employment is down YOY, employment has been rebounding steadily with the metro area adding 180,700 net new jobs May-November.
The largest public sector lease executed this quarter was a short-term extension by the GSA – Small Business Administration for 266,193 square feet at 409 3rd Street, SW – Washington Office Center. Skadden signed the largest private sector lease with a 263,693-square-foot “blend & extend” at 1440 New York Avenue/700 14th Street, NW. Eight buildings sold, totaling $559,381,073.