Office Vacancies Little Changed in 1st Quarter

Office vacancies in U.S. cities were little changed in the first quarter, with Washington maintaining the highest occupancies and downtown Manhattan’s vacancies dropping, real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield said.

The overall vacancy rate for central business districts throughout the U.S. was 15.2%, unchanged from the fourth quarter and down from 15.3% a year earlier, New York-based Cushman said.

Washington’s first-quarter vacancy rate was 8.5%, the lowest in the U.S. Downtown Manhattan’s vacancy rate fell to 12.9% from 13.5% in the previous quarter.