Rents for Office Space Rise, Leasing Activity Drops
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The asking rents for office space rose in the first quarter, while uncertainty in the economy contributed to a slowdown in leasing activity, according to a first quarter market report from Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
The average rent increased more than 25% to $67 a square foot in the first quarter of 2008 from the fourth quarter of 2007, while leasing activity dropped about 8%. The vacancy rate rose to 6.1% from 5.7% at the end of last year. “We aren’t seeing any wholesale dumping of space yet,” the firm’s chief operating officer, Joseph Harbert, said. Still, while “rents are up and confidence in the market is up,” he added, “we cannot ignore the big elephant in the room today, which is the economy.”
