After a discouraging year in 2023, the West Los Angeles office market starts 2024 trending in a positive direction

In the West Los Angeles submarket, 2023 saw a total of 4,093,372 square feet of new office leases signed, along with an average direct asking rent of $57.95 annually. Compared to 2021 and 2022, 2023 leasing underperformed, and we see a massive Class A leasing spike in Q4 2020 as businesses renewed or signed new leases while prices per square foot dropped as a result of the pandemic.

As we begin the new year 2024, there have already been 45 new leases signed between January 1st and the 22nd, totaling 174,317 square feet of office space. Vacancy currently sits at 19.3% with 17 million square feet vacant, out of a total inventory of 88 million square feet. For vacancy to slowly drop below pre-pandemic levels, we must see 9 million square feet of leases signed over the next 7-8 quarters.

With 2024 off to a somewhat better start than 2023, we see promising leasing trends for the West LA office market as businesses begin to migrate from high rise office buildings with hopes of moving their office space to more suburban areas, with inventories being more mid-rising buildings and creative layouts. This will gradually help lower West LA’s office vacancy rate, and within a few years we may see leasing numbers approaching pre-pandemic levels.