The Seattle area has been reeling in sublease space for the past six months, sparking "when-will" wagers from calloused brokers who once made a healthy living on the dot-com companies blamed for the glut. Businesses, unable to sublease space or maintain profitability, are being forced to write expensive monthly checks to landlords for empty space.

"I don't know how you would judge that it's over, that the end is near,'' said Dan Dahl, office specialist in the Seattle branch of CB Richard Ellis. "I don't think we can expect to see a bloody hand on the sidewalk. I would guess, though, most of the big chunks of space are on the market. I don't see any other huge ones coming out of nowhere.''

According to the CBRE first quarter numbers, Average Class "A" asking lease rates continue to reflect a softening market and increases have slowed dramatically from previous quarters. Region-wide average asking lease rates increased to $31.71/sf from $31.08/sf. The only drop in rates was in downtown Seattle, where average rates fell from $39.09/sf to $37.37/sf, a casualty of the influx of new construction and sublease space available to tenants.