Novo Nordisk’s establishment of a new headquarters at 60 Sylvan Road in Waltham was one of the largest leases landed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities in the fourth quarter. Image courtesy of Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Greater Boston’s largest lab landlord said vacancies in its local portfolio topped 7 percent in the fourth quarter, but a revival in life science industry expansion plans points to growth in 2024.

After selling $1.3 billion worth of properties in 2023, Alexandria Real Estate Equities expects to continue selling off “non-core assets” in 2024. The company has pending dispositions that total $124 million, Chief Financial Officer Marc Binda told analysts in a conference call to discuss the earnings report on Tuesday.

The vacancy rate at Alexandria’s Greater Boston portfolio rose 0.26 percent to 7 percent, compared with 12.4 percent in San Francisco.

Reflecting the downturn in lab leasing demand, Alexandria inked 889,000 square feet of leases during the fourth quarter nationwide, approximately half of the levels in 2021 and 2022.

But tenant demand is increasing in Greater Boston, San Francisco and San Diego, three of the Pasadena, California-based REIT’s largest markets, executives said.

“We believe the beginning of 2023 was the low point for demand and are pleased to see that demand for Greater Boston, San Francisco Bay and San Diego are all up year-over-year,” CEO Peter Moglia said.

The nation’s largest life science developer, Alexandria has a nearly 11 million-square-foot portfolio in Greater Boston that represents 28 percent of its total footprint and 38 percent of its annual rental revenue.

Potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve point to a recovery of the biotech industry venture capital funding in 2024, Senior Vice President Hallie Kuhn said.

Alexandria executives highlighted Novo Nordisk’s decision to establish a new headquarters at its Alexandria Center for Life Science Waltham as an example of the competitive advantage of the company’s real estate. In December, the Danish health care company leased 165,000 square feet at 60 Sylvan Road within the former Reservoir East office park.

During the fourth quarter, Alexandria delivered two major preleased projects in Greater Boston: the 462,000-square-foot Moderna headquarters at 325 Binney St. in Cambridge, and the Eli Lilly and Co. Institute for Genetic Medicine at 15 Necco St. in Boston.

During the fourth quarter, Alexandria reported funds from operations, a key measure of a REIT’s financial performance, of $2.28 per share. That fell slightly short of the $2.29 estimate by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research, the Associated Press reported.