{"id":4521,"date":"2025-05-30T06:50:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T06:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/blog\/?p=4521"},"modified":"2025-11-12T09:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:46:45","slug":"boston-office-vacancy-jumps-470-bps-year-over-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/blog\/boston-office-vacancy-jumps-470-bps-year-over-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Office Vacancy Jumps 470 bps as Life Sciences Pull Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston\u2019s office market is still working through the fallout from a life sciences cooldown: Overall vacancy rose to 17.1% in April \u2014 a 470-basis-point (bps) increase year-over-year \u2014 according to the latest CommercialCafe office report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For years, life sciences helped prop up office demand. But, after an extended run of aggressive growth, developers pulled back sharply: By late 2024, vacancy in the sector alone had reached nearly 27%. Now, many of the projects that broke ground during the post-2020 boom are delivering into a softer leasing environment.<\/p>\n

More recently, the announcement of federal spending cuts has introduced a new layer of uncertainty. This is particularly notable for Boston, which led the nation in funding from the National Institutes of Health last year with $3.46 billion, according to Colliers.<\/p>\n

That said, venture capital for life sciences in the metro area has held up relatively well: Boston drew between $7.5 billion and $8.4 billion in life sciences funding last year, just behind the Bay Area. The region also remains home to the largest life sciences workforce in the U.S. Still, with fewer pre-leased projects and a more cautious tenant pool, leasing has slowed \u2014 especially for lab-ready space.<\/p>\n

Pricing is also something to watch. One closely watched deal was the May sale of the Burlington BioCenter in Greater Boston. The 109,000-square-foot lab and office facility sold to Northeastern University for $33 million, down sharply from the $103 million it traded for in 2022. Despite being a fully built-out life sciences property with recent leases in place, the building saw multiple tenant move-outs \u2014 including Ultivue and CANbridge \u2014 amid the slowdown. Northeastern plans to fold the asset into its homeland security and defense research operations at its Burlington campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"
MetLife sold the Burlington BioCenter at 4 Burlington Woods, MA., for roughly one-third of what it paid in 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, recent figures from CommercialEgde show Boston office is posting premium sale prices for office assets at $255 per square foot \u2014 the highest among the country\u2019s major markets. Specifically, Boston posted $543 million in office transactions year-to-date, more than doubling its volume from April 2024.<\/p>\n

Boston office also has the largest active construction pipeline in the country with 5.5 million square feet underway.<\/p>\n

Finally, asking rents averaged $46.06 per square foot \u2014 still well above the $33 national average despite a modest year-over-year drop \u2014 in line with other major Northeast markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boston\u2019s office market is still working through the fallout from a life sciences cooldown: Overall vacancy rose to 17.1% in April \u2014 a 470-basis-point (bps) increase year-over-year \u2014 according to the latest CommercialCafe office report. For years, life sciences helped prop up office demand. But, after an extended run of aggressive growth, developers pulled back sharply: By late 2024, vacancy in the sector alone had reached nearly 27%. Now, many of the projects that broke ground during the post-2020 boom are delivering into a softer leasing environment. More recently, the announcement of federal spending cuts has introduced a new layer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3163,"featured_media":2365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-office-reports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBoston Office Vacancy Ticks Up to 17.1% as Life Sciences Pull Back<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Boston office vacancy rose to 17.1% in April, up 470 bps year-over-year, as life sciences demand continues to slow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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