The vacancy rate for office space in Oakland’s Central Business District has dropped to 9.6 percent, the first time it has been under 10 percent since the third quarter of 2008 according to DTZ (which recently acquired Cassidy Turley).
And with the decrease in the vacancy rate, the going rate for Class A space in Oakland is nearing $3.50 a square foot per month, up around 15 percent over the past year but still substantially cheaper than in San Francisco.
To put that into better perspective DTZ reports that in the same reporting period the San Jose – Silicon Valley office market has asking rents of $3.35/sf and a vacancy rate of 9.9% (the first time to dip below 10% since 2007). I guess you could say Oakland’s office market is stronger than San Jose’s? No?
You’d think Downtown Oakland would be even more attractive to businesses, considering Bart is there and the rent is cheaper than S.F. Also, the city is up and coming.