by Calculated Risk on 1/04/2011 08:59:00 AM

From Bloomberg: U.S. Office Market Has First Gain in Occupied Space Since 2007, Reis Says

Office buildings added 2.5 million square feet ... of occupied space in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of 14 million square feet a year earlier, Reis said in its report. It was the first rise in net absorption since the fourth quarter of 2007.

The office vacancy rate was unchanged from the third quarter at 17.6 percent, remaining at the highest level since 1993, as supply also increased. ... “Vacancy has finally appeared to have stabilized,” Ryan Severino, an economist at Reis, said ...

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the office vacancy rate starting in 1991.

Reis is reporting the vacancy rate was at 17.6% in Q4 2010, the same as in Q3 and up from 17.0% in Q4 2009.

Reis should release the Mall and Apartment vacancy rates over the next few days.