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Omicron variant pushes pause on Raleigh office market recovery at year-end
Despite large amounts of touring activity and chatter in the Raleigh office market, activity was lower than the previous quarter as occupiers decided to take a wait-and-see approach amidst the new Omicron variant. Just 559,483 square feet (sf) was signed in Q4 2021, down from the 811,556 sf in Q3 2021, but ahead of the 460,996 sf seen a year prior. Overall market availability increased to 16.9% in Q4 – a record high rate for the market that reported availability at 12.9% pre-pandemic. Key submarkets such as Downtown Raleigh and Research Triangle Park, where major tenants are located, saw a rise in availability from 16.7% and 17.7% to 19.9% and 18.7%, respectively.