A new report on commercial leasing activity for the first quarter from Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) says that Boston is officially in growth mode and has fully recovered from recession losses. 

Boston has now exceeded its pre-recession jobs peak, according to the report, and high-tech and life sciences continue to grow, at 9.8 percent and 5.9 percent year-over-year, respectively.

The improvement in the economy has caused strong leasing activity in sectors from financial to life science, technology, biomedical and engineering firms. The vacancy rate in Greater Boston remains below 15 percent for the second quarter in a row, but jumped 27 basis points because of a number of spaces that were known to be coming to the market finally becoming vacant, the JLL report suggests, including Monitor’s 196,000 square feet at 2 Canal Park in Cambridge and IBM’s 90,000 building at 5 Technology Park in Westford.

Downtown, the vacancy rate dropped slightly to 9.6 percent, down 10 basis points from year-end. The positive direct absorption in the quarter was driven primarily by activity in the financial district, where total direct absorption was 430,000 square feet in the first quarter of 2013. Brown Brother Harriman’s new lease at 50 Post Office Square was the primary cause. Rents are up in Downtown Boston 0.4 percent in Q1 and 2 percent year-over-year. The financial district and South Station areas recorded rent growth of 0.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.