The deals or would-be deals range from 800 sf to 40,000 sf, the brokers say. "Nobody's looking for a 100,000-sf lease," Silva says. The lookers are just about any kind of business you can name, ranging from engineering firms to accountants to software companies. Silva says he's seen some out-of-town software companies opening sales and development offices in Austin, but they're starting out small. "When they do expansions, they're doing them in real small increments," he says.

While being busy is good, much of the activity seems to be tenants moving from one building to another. Some are moving to get better space at the same price as their current lease or the same kind of space for a lower price. "The (class) B tenants are coming out in force," Scruggs says. "They're saying it's our time. We can get class A space for the same price."

Granger says that the current market is more like a normal market. Companies have more choices and more time to choose office space. There's not the sense of urgency that tenants had in the past two years when office space was scarce.

Does the activity means things are looking up? Brokers aren't going on a limb with predictions. Scruggs will say, "It's a start.