The vacancy rate rose 2% to 18% in the county. This was largely affected by a growth in construction completions and sublease space availabilities, which is currently 752,040 sf and which affected every major submarket this year. Sublease space affected the Brickell Avenue submarket most, where space increased 18%, compared with 2001.

During the year, more than 896,000 sf of construction was completed. Most of that was speculative, and approximately 57% of it has been leased. About half of the new space completed was in the Coral Gables submarket.

One submarket that saw a vacancy rate hike was Brickell Avenue, whose vacancy rate rose from 12.3% at the end of 2001 to 16.8% currently. That number is expected to climb further when two buildings totaling 480,000 sf are completed in 2003. This year, the overall vacancy rate also increased in the central business district from 14.4% to 16%.