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Early First Quarter Returns: Office Vacancies Up

SEATTLE, WA-Over the last few months, experts have been predicting that economic recovery from the recession could begin as early as the second quarter. For the landlords of Puget Sound's offices, where vacancies continue to rise, it won't come soon enough.

By Janet Parker | Updated on March 25, 2002

SEATTLE, WA-The good news is that it’s getting closer to the second quarter, the timeframe in which many economists have predicted the nation could begin to climb out of the trenches of recession. The bad news is that Puget Sound is expected to lag behind in that recovery. And, more bad news for the office sector is that vacancies continue to climb.

Carolyn Davis with the research department of the Seattle office of Cushman & Wakefield tells GlobeSt.com the brokerage house is in the latter stages of compiling the number on the office market around Puget Sound.

Davis says downtown Seattle’s offices (including all classes) closed 2001 with a direct vacancy rate of 8.1% and an overall rate of 13%. With the caveat that Cushman & Wakefield has yet to finalize the numbers, but she estimates that the first quarter rate in this 34.4-million-sf sub-market has bumped up about a percentage point.

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