Mary O'Rourke, senior director, Fitch Ratings, tells GlobeSt.com that the office sector's volatility was not unexpected and should continue for at least the next two or three quarters. The recession hit the office market hard--he above-average overall PMM score is 2.85 in the primary markets, however when compared to the previous score, the overall primary office market score worsened by 17 basis points.

Bright spots included Riverside, CA, and Norfolk, VA which joined Sacramento, Washington, DC, and the Nassau-Suffolk, NY market in the top category.

There was bad news for the six primary Northern New Jersey markets-- due to declining rents, high vacancy and new supply all moved from the highest category to VG 3. Austin remains at the bottom of the pack as the only primary office market still in VG 5. Denver rose to VG 4. West Palm Beach, as well as Texas primary markets Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, remain at VG 4, while San Jose, Phoenix, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis and Charlotte declined to VG 4 from VG 3.