Commercial real estate keeps weakening

The tri-county’s labor force dropped 3.4 percent from January 2008 to January 2009, and January numbers rose 2 percent in Miami-Dade County and 4 percent in Broward County and Palm Beach County, according to the Beacon Council. The business group said the employment drop affects commercial real estate, where rising office and apartment vacancies are starting to be felt acutely. In Miami-Dade County, office vacancy increased 22 percent from the end of 2007 to the end of 2008, to 11 percent, according to research by Colliers Abood Wood-Fay.