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Boston Life Sciences Vacancies Hit New Low

Metro Boston experienced a year-over-year increase of 8% in life sciences employment through the third quarter, NKF’s Liz Berthelette reported, citing data from JobsEQ by Chmura. That led to the second consecutive year of absorption exceeding one million square feet for lab space, and the market ended 2019 with 5% vacancy, a new low.

“With Cambridge seeing full occupancy over most of the past five years, more companies are being forced to consider fringe and suburban locations,” Berthelette wrote. “Markets outside of Cambridge accounted for more than 70% of annual net absorption, but expect the pendulum to shift back to Cambridge as several new projects reach completion and more enter the pipeline.”

Demand across the metro area isn’t likely to abate anytime soon. A recent report from the nonprofit Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation found that life sciences employment in the Bay State is projected to increase from approximately 74,000 in 2018 to 86,000 in 2024.

Pictured: Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ 100 Binney St. in Cambridge.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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