On the heels of the occupancy decline and increased vacancy in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic, the Washington, D.C. office market experienced further softening in Q1 2021 with 1.1 million sq. ft. of negative net absorption—the city’s largest single-quarter occupancy loss on record. This was driven mostly by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ relocation to its newly delivered headquarters in Camp Springs, Maryland, leaving behind 620,000 sq. ft. across four buildings in the District. This, combined with coworking closures, space givebacks by small tenants, and the delivery of 300,000 sq. ft. of vacant space in new construction, led to a 150 basis-point increase in overall vacancy over the prior quarter, to a record 17.4%.