Sublease Space Trekking North

CHICAGO-Office sublease space throughout the US has been rising for three quarters, but the rate of increase is considerably slower than it was during the last downturn. That’s the latest word from the chief economist at Grubb & Ellis Co.

Robert Bach, senior vice president and chief economist at Grubb & Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com that the rate at which sublease office space is climbing is “a really telling statistic,” especially when today’s rate of increase is compared with that of the downturn that began in the year 2000. Before anyone gets too excited and jumps to the conclusion that the slowly climbing sublease numbers are a sign that today’s office market is much better off than the office market of the previous downturn, Bach has some words of caution.

“A lot of people are saying that the office market is in a better position now than it was in 2000 to 2001, but I don’t buy that,” Bach says. “The sublease statistics suggest to me that the market is really in a much different position than it was in the last downturn, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s in a better position.”