Few takers for office sublease space

With home sales across the country maintaining near-record pace, industry experts trumpet residential real estate as one of the few strong sectors in the fragile economy. However, no one is saying such nice things about the office market, where a glut of sublease space threatens to slow any market recovery.

Sublease space accounts for more than 142 million square feet, which is 24% of the U.S. office market. Rent discounts for this space run anywhere from 10%-50%, with most falling at 25% or less. But even with the plethora of vacancies and modest rents, subleases accounted for only 9% of total office leasing since the beginning of 2000.

Austin leads Texas markets with almost 40% of its total office space listed as sublease, then Dallas at 18%, and Houston at 17%.

Buyers & sellers, visit www.texasrealestate.com.
REALTORS®, visit www.texasrealtors.com.