By Kris Hudson | The Wall Street Journal
The recovery of the U.S. office market picked up steam during the fourth quarter of 2013, according to new data from real estate research firm Reis Inc. REIS -0.21%
Businesses occupied an additional 8.5 million square feet of office space in the quarter. That was only a 0.25% increase from the third quarter, but Reis said it was the largest gain since the third quarter of 2007.
The expansion of tenants was offset by the completion of 9.1 million square feet of new office space during the quarter, the most since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Reis, which tracks 79 major U.S. office markets. That left the market’s vacancy rate at 16.9%, unchanged from the previous quarter.
