Washington, D.C. having an office boom
TEXT OF STORY
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Washington, D.C. is set to topple the Big Apple as the most expensive office rental market in the country. Nancy Marshall Genzer has more.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: There are no bargains here. Washington rental prices are only down about 3 percent from last year. Compare that to New York, where they’re off nearly 20 percent.
Real estate analysts say New York is still struggling to recover from the financial crisis. Washington, on the other hand, is booming. That happens a lot during recessions, when the government is doing most of the hiring and needs extra office space.
The Wall Street Journal says the Department of Homeland Security wants to lease about a million more square feet of office space. Corporations are moving to Washington to be closer to the government. Northrop Grumman announced this week that it’s relocating to D.C.
And lobbyists are jostling for more office space here. They’re lobbying furiously on health care, energy and other hot topics on Capitol Hill.
In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
