Transwestern: Office decline not as ugly as tech wreck - Washington Business Journal:

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According to the report, Class A offic space in Dallasaveraged $21.68 per foot in Decembeer of 2006 and continued to rise untilo dropping back down to $21.64 centsz per square foot in June. Meanwhile, Class B office space was pricedat $17.34 per square foot in December of 2006 and also trended upward until fallingh back to $17.38 per foot in June of this Riis Christensen, senior vice presidenrt at Transwestern, said Fridah that there has been "a two and a half year peel back in quote d rates." He added that 77 percenty of Class A buildings have reduced their rated in the last six months, while 79 percent of Clasds B buildings have lowered rates.
Christensen said Classx C buildings are feeling the pinch of aconsumerd market, where Class A and Class B properties are lowerin rates to stay competitive. "For successful businessees this is when there is a flight to qualittfrom 'C' to 'B' or from 'B' to 'A', Christense said. "People will upgrade, or they will use the marke to renegotiate where they are The broader economy that led to the new conditionse includes a higher unemployment rate and the factthat Dallas-Fort Worth bled 49,500 jobs in the 12-month periofd ending in April, the repor t said. The overall vacancy rate in the office marke stoodat 16.9 percent in the seconsd quarter.
That is up from 16.7 percenrt in the first quarter, but lower than the 17.2 percentg recorded a year ago, according to the Rents were lower in both the Class A and B commerciakl property sector in the first half of thereport indicated. In the secondf quarter of 2009, net absorption in the industrial markettotaled 1.2 millionh square feet, which is the same amounyt recorded during the same periof of 2008. The overall vacancy rate in the seconc quarter alsowas 11.1 percent, down slightly from 11.2 percentf during the first quarter, but up from 9 percentf compared to a year ago.
Despite change s related to the economy, Christensen added that 900,00 square feet of space was still absorbedxthis year. He believesa this speaks well for how diversifiedthe Dallas-For Worth market is. "We're not seeing in the great recessiom the really big ugly lossesz that we did in thetech wreck," he "Dallas is still going to be a job growtj leader, and that fuels everything," he said.
"The regionalk economy is weaking, but it is outperforming the rest ofthe