Job Growth Won't Bump Office Demand Until Next Year

SEATTLE, WA-The numbers posted in Grubb & Ellis’ first quarter report on greater Seattle’s office market are enough to call for a moment of silence. In the first three months of 2002, Puget Sound’s aggregate, overall vacancy rate reached 15.8%.

This marks a 2.9 percentage-point increase from year-end 2001–and the eighth consecutive quarter of vacancy increases that came on the heels of a market that seemed, at the time, to have no ceiling.

Nonetheless, the Office Market Trends report paints 2003 as a year with positive job growth significant enough to make a positive impact on the market. James M. Keating, a Sr. VP with the Bellevue office of Grubb and Ellis says, “While the first quarter statistics maintain the reality of the office space situation, there is nonetheless a sense that activity and the possibility of near term transactions may indicate a change, or at least a flattening of trends by the end of the year.”