According to an undisclosed industry executive with a major brokerage firm, many building owners feel confident that tenants will stay to the end of their leases, many of which carry 10-year terms. Because many of their clients signed tenants to long-term leases within the last couple of years, building owners would rather collect rent than sell in a down market. With statewide vacancy rates remaining low, that trend is likely to last as long as the current economic slump.

But with ongoing layoffs in the financial sectors and the increasing reliance of tech firms on an offshore labor pool, a spike in vacancies along the Rte. 128 high-tech sector might bring about an increase in the supply of commercial properties in the coming year.