In Portland, there's 1.4 million sf of sublease space, which is equal to just last year's construction deliveries and constitutes 19.7% of total available space in the market, according to the local Grubb & Ellis office. If that sounds good compared to the national numbers, it sounds fabulous compared to other West Coast markets like San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle, where sublease space represents as much as 40% of all available space in those markets.

That's where the good news ends, however, because when Portland's direct vacancies are included and put up against the region's average net absorption, there's more than four years of overhang--not counting new deliveries.

All told, Portland currently has 5.5 million sf of vacant space on the market. Average net absorption over the past five years has been 1.2 million sf. By that math, there's 4.6 years worth of vacant space on the market. Factor in new construction deliveries over the next four years and an expected second wave of cutbacks by corporate America and it's going to take sustained above-average absorption for several years to soak up the excess supply.