Washington, DC-based ONCOR International reports that North American markets absorbed a one-year total of 81.3 million square feet (msf) of office space in 1999, topping the decade. According to David A. Ball, president and CEO of ONCOR, “millennium fever” as well as solid market fundamentals caused the dramatic rise.
The 1999 total was significantly higher than the 57 msf acquired in 1998, following a “down-up-down-up cycle of market absorption” since 1996, reports Ball. Accordingly, 60 msf were absorbed in 1996, with a rise to 79.6 msf absorbed in 1997. However, Ball optimistically predicts continued market stability.
He states, “The coming of a new millennium unquestionably put our on-the-ground market observers in a good frame of mind, but their overall optimism seems well buoyed by surging absorption, stabilizing vacancy rates, and generally restrained construction. If the fundamentals remain intact, the 1996 through 1999 alternating cycle of market absorption might just get broken.”
For further information, call ONCOR at 202/452-1852.
Based on a report from Today’s Facility Manager
