Q3 Report: CBD Office Availability Hits 9.3%

PORTLAND-Office vacancies continued to rise in the third quarter while rents continued to fall, according to the latest report from Cushman & Wakefield.

Availability in the Central Business District is at 9.3% while the tech-heavy Suburban market eclipsed 16%. In the second quarter, the rates were 7.8% and 14.5%, respectively. The Suburban market’s lowest vacancy rate in the recent past came in the third quarter of 2000, when it stood at 8%. The CBD market saw its lowest availability rate in the fourth quarter of that year, when it stood at 4.6%.

C&W’s Portland Managing Director Terry Shanley tells GlobeSt.com that neither market likely has hit bottom, as dot-coms continue to throw space back on the market as they die or retreat under the pressure of the struggling economy. “It’s still the same story,” says Shanley. “I suspect the fourth quarter will show an additional rise.”