Explosive: a word that would do a good job to describe the Kansas City’s office market. The number of its offices has grown by one third since 2014, turning the city into the largest office market surpassing Miami, Austin, Portland, and other national forerunners. An average sales price for an office building increased by 65%, filling the pockets of landlords with cash and driving the rent fees up. The most active submarkets in the city are the Overland Park, KC Downtown, and South Johnson County. The office space for rent in Kansas City remains red-hot as the tenants are moving and expanding all the time. Very few deals are the renewals. The latter shows a continued push for the new, efficient space in the industrial sector. The vacancy rate keeps falling steadily by 5% over the last five years, having rested at the point of 15%. Asking rents equal to $22, which is a bit above the national average. Net absorption on the office rental market in Kansas City has ever been positive since 2013. More than 1/3 of all leases are completed by the food and beverage industry, which eats up space. Meanwhile, Johnson County is the epicenter of office spaces for lease in Kansas City, as it features the most sought-after premises and grants numerous advantages of the location to its tenants. Large spaces over 40,000 are still in short supply on the market, which would facilitate future build-to-suit projects.
