Office vacancies rise again in South Florida

Office vacancies have gone up again to their highest rates since the
beginning of the 2000s. According to data from Cushman & Wakefield,
office vacancy in Palm Beach County was 24.5 percent up from 22.1
percent from the first quarter of 2009. Broward County’s rates
increased to 19.4 percent, up from 16.1 percent in the same time period
in 2009. Companies downsizing are “blending and extending,” meaning
they take a smaller amount of space but lengthen their leases at lower
price levels. Delray Beach had an especially high vacancy rate, at 42.6
percent in the first quarter of 2010. The highest rates in Broward
County were in Deerfield Beach, Tamarac and Margate, with each city at
a vacancy rate of 32 percent. [Sun Sentinel]