It'd be a joke if it weren't true. For example, talk on the street here is about the huge amount of sublease space that has flooded the market because so many dot.com companies have dried up and blown away.

Colliers International's local research pegs the amount at 1.7 million sf, up from 1.3 million sf at the end of last year. Grubb & Ellis says 1.1 million sf, or about double the 621,622 sf it reported at the end of 2000. On the vacancy side, CB Richard Ellis reported a Seattle rate of 6.02%, (up from 4.38%) while Colliers checks in with 7.8% (up from 3.5%).

With the recent bounce in vacancy rates, pushed along by the bulging sublease numbers in all areas, there is renewed interest in putting together a common list of rates so that references could be consistent.Then again, if it did happen there wouldn't be the options there are today when a client calls from out of town and asks about the market?