by Calculated Risk on 4/10/2010 08:59:00 AM

The following article makes a couple of key points: 1) office vacancy rates are still rising as leases expire, and 2) new construction has essentially stopped - and there will probably be little new office construction for a number of years. That is also what the Architecture Billings Index, a leading indicator for commercial real estate (CRE) suggests ...

From Robert Selna at the San Francisco Chronicle: Office vacancy rate rises in San Francisco

The 13 million square feet of available space in the first quarter of 2010 translates to a 17.7 percent office vacancy rate, up from 14.7 percent a year ago and nearly one percentage point from the previous quarter ending in December, according to data released Friday by the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.
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Boston's commercial district has a vacancy rate of 18.4 percent and Chicago's is 16.3 percent, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
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[Colin Yasukochi, research director at Jones Lang LaSalle] said that only one office building, located in Mission Bay, is currently under construction.