The vacancy crisis in the D.C. office market is accelerating.

More than 920K SF of office space was emptied out by tenants in the first half of 2024, nearly reaching the full-year totals from 2022 and 2023.

By the end of June, the average vacancy rate in District offices was 22.4%, according too CBRE, a new record high that is up nearly a full percentage point from the prior quarter

Even emptier offices come as the federal government is more aggressively giving up space, D.C.’s law firms are contracting, and some tenants, including nonprofit groups, are “totally walking away from office space,” Savills Vice Chairman Tom Fulcher told Bisnow.

“People are like, ‘We’re not coming in. We don’t need it anymore,’” he said.

At the top of the market, the 14M SF of trophy space in D.C. was 12.6% vacant at the end of the second quarter, with a very limited large-block supply, according to CBRE.

But the 94M SF that the brokerage defines as Class-A and A-plus was roughly 23% vacant, not far ahead of Class-B and C offices, where vacancy was 25.7% and 25.8%, respectively.

“For all classes, being the A’s and the B’s and the A-minuses and the B-pluses and the C’s, the rest of the stuff that’s out there, it’s not getting any better,” Savills Research Director Arty Maharajh told Bisnow.

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