Mike Siegel, President of Corporate Realty, Inc.

Commercial brokerage Corporate Realty, Inc. released its Fifth Annual Greater New Orleans Office Market Report.

The report does a great job of providing office market specifics, is designed as a comprehensive overview on the New Orleans office real estate market, and includes in-depth data on office rents in all of the sub-markets, including the CBD, Metairie and the Northshore.

While many in the local real estate industry see the office market as stagnant, the report states “there is little new office product coming to the market and were not many new transactions of great size that took place in 2016. It would be easy to look at those general figures and conclude that the market was stagnant, but this report provides the granular details and insights that show the undercurrent of activity.”

Some key highlights the report:

• Total office inventory sits right below 20,000,000 square feet.

• The average rental rate is $18.96/square foot, down slightly from $19.15 in 2015.

• Class A office space, however, is up slightly in 2016, to an average of $20.06/square foot.

• The East Metairie submarket had the highest rates, with an average of $21.45/square foot (up from $21.41 in 2015).

• One Shell Square and Place St. Charles lead in CBD occupancy, with 96% and 91%, respectively.

The top leases in 2016 include the Stone Pigman Law Firm’s lease of 43,517 square feet at First Bank & Trust Tower, Reily Foods lease of 24,447 square feet at 400 Poydras, and Launch Pad’s lease of 22,594 at 400 Poydras.