The percentage of vacant office space in the Greater Des Moines area inched upward in the first quarter of 2023, market reports from CBRE Inc. and JLL show.

The Des Moines area has over 18.1 million square feet of office space, according to CBRE. In the first quarter, which ended March 31, 17.2%, or 3.1 million square feet, was vacant. At the end of the fourth quarter, the area’s office vacancy rate was 15.4%, CBRE’s market report showed.

The office vacancy rate in the central business district was 18% (1.18 million square feet of vacancy) in the first quarter, and in the western suburbs it was 17% (1.65 million square feet),  according to the report.

In the Des Moines area, 305,109 square feet of new office space is under construction, according to JLL’s market report. Four companies are building new headquarters in the western suburbs: West Bank, Farmer’s State Bank, Access Systems and Worldwide Logistics.

Also in the first quarter, 31 leases were signed that absorbed about 100,000 square feet of office space, JLL’s report said. Twenty of the leases were in the western suburbs. “Look for large office space activity to increase in the coming year,” the report said.

“The Des Moines office market made it out of the pandemic with an increase in hybrid work models and tenants right-sizing their spaces,” JLL’s report said. “The market now looks towards large blocks of corporate-owned buildings added to available inventory.”

To read JLL’s market report, click here.

To read CBRE’s market report, click here.