Tenants’ upper hand in Houston’s office market is only getting stronger since the onset of the pandemic. With a rise in construction costs and delivery of new buildings since 2020, some submarkets and asset classes are seeing record-high offerings of tenant concessions, including lengthy free rent and generous construction allowances. Add in high levels of distress and the ongoing flight-to-quality trend, and brokers are also seeing novel giveaways like build-outs for small office spaces on short-term leases and previously unheard-of assurances that landlords will prove they can fund improvements by handing over financials, they told Bisnow. 
“I’ve never seen a market like this,” said Lesa Nickelson French, senior managing director for Savills.Class-A tenant improvement allowances and average number of months of free rent hit new highs following the 2015-2016 oil bust and have continued climbing due to the fading fortunes… Read the full story here. | 
