vacant

Landlords Cut Commercial Rents

Commercial landlords are struggling to keep tenants and hold onto property in one of the toughest markets in decades.

Nationwide, effective office rents fell 8.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2008, according to Reis Inc., and companies reduced office space drastically, vacating 19.6 million square feet, the equivalent of six Empire State Buildings, Reis calculated.

Victor Calanog, director of research at Reis, predicts that this drop in rents likely will spur a pickup in leasing activity over the next 12 months.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, A.D. Pruitt (10/28/2009)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

vacant

Vacant Homes Up Slightly

Vacant homes in the U.S.—including foreclosures, residences for sale, and vacation properties—rose to 18.8 million in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The record high for vacancies was 18.95 million in the first quarter of this year. There were 18.4 vacancies in the third quarter last year.

In total, there were 130.3 million homes in the U.S. in the third quarter, according to the census. About 2 million were for sale, 4.6 million for rent, and 4.6 million were vacation homes that are only used a portion of the year.

Source: Bloomberg, Kathleen M. Howley (10/29/2009)

——————–
Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob