One well-known quirk of GSA leases is that operating cost reimbursements are not based on increases in actual costs. Rather, they are calculated on the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and…
Category: Leases
GSA Lease Terms are Poised for Growth
Recently, pre-solicitation notices posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website (FBO) have been indicating GSA’s desire to enter into longer lease contracts. FBO notices advertise GSA’s requirements for upcoming procurements, including the length of lease term…
GSA Lease Terminations: How Often Do They Occur?
Investors and lenders frequently ask how often GSA exercises its termination rights. It’s a necessary question because roughly 75% of GSA leases contain some form of cancelation clause–typically a rolling right to terminate. The trepidation caused…
A Look at GSA Rent Growth
Portfolio investors of GSA-leased properties will be pleased to learn that GSA gross rents have, on the whole, performed reasonably well in the past ten years. GSA leases typically do not contain rent escalations–in fact, in…
The Greying of GSA’s Leased Inventory
As illustrated in the graph above, the average age of buildings leased by GSA has hovered at or around 15 years through the 2000s. Yet, recently that figure has been trending older. The GSA leased inventory is aging.…
GSA Lease and Sales Market Trends
It is well-documented that since Freeze The Footprint began in 2012, the GSA and its tenant agencies have been actively pursuing consolidation and downsizing in order to meet these requirements. The question is – how has…
Where the Federal Leases Are
The U.S. government leases space all across the nation–including in some pretty remote locations. Yet, the bulk of federal government tenancy can be found in just 20 markets. The map above shows the 20 largest markets for U.S.…
Renewal Rents Usually Increase
There are few investors of GSA-leased properties who have not engaged in hand-wringing over renewal rents, even when buying properties years in advance of the lease expiration date. Normally when presented with the question of whether the…
Notable Transactions of 2015
Though the federal lease inventory continued to shrink in 2015, there was plenty of action, especially in the Washington, DC area where most of the big federal tenants reside. Here is a selection of the most notable transaction activity…
GSA’s Leasing Capacity
In a recent Washington Business Journal article entitled “Time is running out for the feds to take advantage of Washington’s tenant market” (*paywall*), the reporter noted that GSA will struggle to take full advantage of the current tenant’s market…