Colliers: Office Occupancy Rebounds Strongly

Occupancy levels in the national office market have rebounded nearly to their pre-recession levels, according to Colliers International, a Boston-based commercial real estate manager.Today's occupancy rate stands at 84.5%, just 5.6 million square feet short of the level recorded in 2000, Colliers said. "Job gains, and specifically sustained growth in the 'office-using employment' sector in the final quarter of 2004, helped propel the office market," said Ross Moore, vice president and director of research at Colliers. Absorption in 2004 "significantly exceeded our initial bullish projections of 50-60 million square feet at the beginning of the year," he said. Absorption totaled 84.4 million square feet, up dramatically from 27 million square feet in 2003, Colliers said. The company can be found online at http://www.colliers.com.