The Portland Metro remained sluggish in Q2 2022, coming off the heels of a slow Q1, with the continued challenges of Covid-19. Some submarkets, namely downtown Portland, continued to experience a significant increase in vacancy and negative net absorption, for the 10th straight quarter. We are still seeing tenants with impending lease expirations either extend their leases on a short term basis (one - three years), and in many cases, rightsize their spaces by 25-40% due to the WFH/WFA phenomenon that is impacting office space globally, or frankly, decide not to have a physical office for the immediate future. Add to that equation a flight to the suburban markets, and downtown remains very, very quiet. We didn’t see much leasing activity of large blocks of space in Q2, other than a couple of renewals in the over 30,000 square feet category. Unfortunately, we believe Q3 and Q4 will carry a similar trajectory.
