By ANTON TROIANOVSKI
The amount of occupied U.S. office space increased for the first time in nearly three years during the fourth quarter of 2010 as more companies that had been postponing real-estate decisions got back into the leasing market.
Average office rents also rose by 0.2%, to $22.09 per square foot, registering their first uptick since the second quarter of 2008, according to property-research firm Reis Inc. While the 79 metropolitan areas tracked by Reis vary greatly, the national trend means that in many regions the balance of power is shifting to landlords from tenants.
The office market has been hard hit by job losses. From January 2008 to September 2010, businesses vacated 137.8 million square feet of office space-more than the inventory in Chicago's central business district. In the final three months of 2010, however, occupied office space in the U.S. grew by 2.5 million square feet.
On the whole, the office-market recovery remains weak...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704835504576060053365059760.html?mod=WSJ_RealEstate_MIDDLETopNews
The amount of occupied U.S. office space increased for the first time in nearly three years during the fourth quarter of 2010 as more companies that had been postponing real-estate decisions got back into the leasing market.
Average office rents also rose by 0.2%, to $22.09 per square foot, registering their first uptick since the second quarter of 2008, according to property-research firm Reis Inc. While the 79 metropolitan areas tracked by Reis vary greatly, the national trend means that in many regions the balance of power is shifting to landlords from tenants.
The office market has been hard hit by job losses. From January 2008 to September 2010, businesses vacated 137.8 million square feet of office space-more than the inventory in Chicago's central business district. In the final three months of 2010, however, occupied office space in the U.S. grew by 2.5 million square feet.
On the whole, the office-market recovery remains weak...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704835504576060053365059760.html?mod=WSJ_RealEstate_MIDDLETopNews
