The Dallas Office market in 2009
Back in the mid 1980’s Dallas had a massive oversupply of office space, so much so that there was 10 sq ft of available office space for every resident in the area. So when we see reports about the poor state of the real estate market in Dallas, we would do well to remember that things are not as bad as they were back in 1986. Back then there was 40 million sq ft of available office space. And the market is actually 75% bigger now than it was then, so that really was a massive figure. DFW had more empty space that the total stock in some other major US cities.
There is about 40 million sq ft available now in the Dallas office market, but is only about a fifth of the market. So 20% is a lot of available space but it is still nowhere near as bad as it was in the mid 1980’s. Then vacancy rates were approaching 40% in areas such as Plato and North Texas. Along with offices there was also lots of empty retail and warehouse space. So whatever the current problems for real estate companies, it isn’t half as bad as 20 years ago!