St. Louis Office Market Report

Companies maintain downtown footprints. Entering the second quarter of 2022, vacancy in the CBD was 40 basis points below the suburbs, an encouraging sign for St. Louis' downtown. Historically, the suburbs have been the more popular location for office tenants. However, cost-conscious tenants are opting to stay downtown, evident by the core's 6.1 percent Class B/C vacancy rate at the onset of April. While lower rents should allow the CBD to retain tenants with upcoming lease expirations, moves like the Bank of America's consolidation of local employees from downtown to Clayton foreshadows a potential renewal in suburban demand. If this trend plays out, vacancy in the suburbs should ease, aiding overall market fundamentals as roughly two-thirds of office inventory is located here.