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The Boston office marked cleared a “psychological hurdle” by recording 307,000 square feet of positive absorption in the third quarter after retreating for six straight quarters, according to a new research report.

The vacancy rate declined to 15.2 percent and sublease offerings dropped by 773,000 square feet, Colliers International reported. Class A buildings led the market recovery with tenants in industries such as health care, healthtech, cybersecurity and finance in the market for space.

“The ‘Great Return’ has begun. How it ultimately plays out depends on such factors as COVID-19 variants and permanent remote and flexible work and its effect ton physical occupancy,” the report by Colliers’ Jeff Myers, Kelly Doonan and Aaron Jodka states.

The 8.8 million-square-foot East Cambridge market has the region’s highest asking office rents at $90.51 per square foot, and a 7.8 percent vacancy rate. Back Bay retained its position as the highest-priced submarket in Boston, with average asking rents of $67.60, followed by the downtown market at $64.33.

Suburban markets have yet to see a recovery, however. All nine submarkets tracked by Colliers have double-digit vacancy rates, and the 110 million-square-foot market had nearly 1.3 million square feet of negative absorption since Jan. 1. Growing demand for biomanufacturing facilities points to a strategy to reinvigorate suburban office properties, a process already under way at properties in West Cambridge, Waltham and Burlington.