Photo courtesy The Ashforth Co.

Companies snapping up space on the sublease market helped the Fairfield County office market attain positive absorption for the first time in seven quarters, according to a report by brokerage CBRE.

Subleases accounted for 40 percent of all leasing activity during the third quarter, illustrating demand for built-out space available for quick occupancy, CBRE reported.

Vacancies declined to 26.2 percent countywide. The 2.1 million-square-foot Greenwich central business district retained its status as the strongest submarket, accounting for 92,000 square feet of leases and driving its availability rate down to 9.3 percent.

Financial service companies accounted for the largest leases in downtown Greenwich, as Edgewood Management Co. renewed and expanded to 20,350 square feet at 600 Steamboat Road and One Rock Capital Partners leased 13,000 square feet at 1 Greenwich Plaza, while Balyasny Asset Management expanded by 5,000 square feet at 1 Fawcett Place.

“All of the aforementioned deals were notable for having terms of 7 years or more, which shows confidence that a location in the Greenwich CBD is part of long-term plans,” CBRE researchers Nicole LaRusso and Michael Slattery wrote.

Big availabilities remain in the 10.4-million-square-foot downtown Stamford submarket, which has the county’s highest direct vacancy rate at 29 percent and highest availability rate of 30.9 percent.

Average asking rents countywide rose 2 percent from the third quarter of 2020 to $35.57 per square foot, reflecting activity in the high-rent downtown Greenwich market.