"Fairfield County mirrors what we've been seeing in the Manhattan market," says Kenneth Krasnow, regional managing director of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut Inc. "As the vacancy rate in an extremely tight market continues to tighten, rental rates expand exponentially, and tenants begin looking outside central locations."

Key market statistics from the Cushman & Wakefield report include: Stamford's central business district office vacancy declined from 5.1% to just 3.9% in the third quarter. In fact, there is only 129,957 sf of Class A space available at the moment in downtown Stamford, the brokerage firm relates. The overall vacancy rate for Fairfield County dropped from 10.4% a year ago to 6.5% at the end of the third quarter 2000. The overall asking rent shot up to $27.67 per sf countywide. Greenwich's office asking rents now average $48.28 per sf, while Stamford has seen a 36.6% increase in asking rents from a year ago to the current price of $39.69 per sf.

Krasnow says that tight market conditions and high rents are driving business to areas such as Shelton, Stratford and Trumbull on the eastern side of the county. The vacancy rate in the market has seen a drop of 10% in its vacancy rate from a year ago to 9.2% at the end of the third quarter.