The Little Rock office market experienced negative absorption of 41,210 SF during fourth-quarter 2016, primarily from departures in Class B and C office properties. The vacancy rate ended the year at 8 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from the year-earlier quarter.
“The Little Rock office market finished with net absorption of 72,801 SF for 2016,” said John Martin of Moses Tucker Real Estate of Little Rock. “Downtown had another strong quarter with over 22,000 SF of absorption and with a current vacancy of 6.3 percent. The west Little Rock and midtown submarkets, however, both had negative absorption in the fourth quarter of over 36,113 SF and 25,437 SF respectively. The WLR submarket had a vacancy rate of 8.7 percent, and midtown had a vacancy rate of 7 percent.
“Market conditions continue to point toward new development in space with 70,000 SF under construction. Rental rates are expected to remain stable throughout the first part of 2017.”