Newfound concerns for security and the desire to keep costs to a minimum led 58% of Oncor analysts to surmise that there will be a notable increase in back-office construction and occupancy. The report also concludes that the disparity between supply and demand continues to increase. Oncor's numbers show the average vacancy rate in the office market for North America's Central Business District (CDB) to be 12.57% at year's end; an increase of 2.2% for the same period in 2000. For the most part, analysts--83% of those surveyed--expect no positive change in the vacancy numbers within the next six months.

However, news for the office market is not all bad. The fact that lenders, developers and owner-occupiers are not making a bad problem worse is a positive sign. "Definitely, I think what's indicative of this report was lenders were not exacerbating the problem," Oncor Director of Marketing and Communications Lottie Gatewood tells GlobeSt.com. "While they're tending toward concern, there's also a cautious optimism that the market will rebound."

While the report did conclude that security related issues are taking the forefront in many decisions, there was little evidence that the masses will retreat from high-rises due to the attacks on the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. A mere 13% of the analysts observed such a panic among tenants. In addition, Gatewood says it is unlikely that tenants will retreat to the suburbs out of fear of being a target in a major city's condensed business district. Gatewood says, "[take] DC as an example--we have construction continuing inside the central business district and in the suburbs. I don't think you're going to see people waning from central business districts." Cities such as Manhattan, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC made Oncor's list of the top 10 highest Class A CBD rental rates, with average dollar-per-square-foot rates of $60.52, $51.00 and $34.00, respectively. Gatewood adds, "I don't think the attacks themselves are going to make people move out of cities. I don't see that as a trend at all."