Northern New Jersey’s office market saw a significant jump in 2014, as several large transactions in the third quarter proved to be weighty drivers of volume. The office sector had 171 transactions on the year, representing $1.3B. Transactional volume increased by 46% and dollar volume rose by 142% compared to 2013’s annual totals. Year-over-year, vacancies remained stable on the strength of both high demand and new deliveries, rental rates climbed slightly, and cap rates fell by 48 bps to 7.4%. 2014’s spike in dollar volume can be attributed to a pair of office tower sales that resulted in 3Q14’s dollar volume accounting for 58% of the year’s total: JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of the Newport Office Center 5 in Jersey City for $315M and Vision Properties LLC’s purchase of Metropolitan Center in East Rutherford for $109M.