Biotech lab house demand falls sharply

Demand for brand new lab house has plummeted by greater than half for the reason that finish of 2021, and life science emptiness charges are the very best they’ve been in a decade amid the biotech trade’s ongoing downturn, in accordance with a report launched Tuesday by Jones Lang LaSalle, a business actual property companies firm

Tenant demand, measured by the overall quantity of latest house that corporations wish to lease, dropped from 25.3 million sq. ft on the finish of 2021 to 10.1 million sq. ft by the second quarter of this 12 months throughout eight prime life science markets: Boston, the Bay Space, San Diego, Raleigh-Durham, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Washington, D.C., space.

The true property numbers introduced in JLL’s annual life sciences report are yet one more signal that the biotech trade, which outperformed the broader marketplace for years, is within the midst of a slowdown. Lab house is more and more going unused amid a provide glut, and extra corporations wish to sublease house. Actual property observers say there are some indicators these traits may flip round within the subsequent 12 months or two, although that’s removed from sure.