"The market has definitely slowed down, but it hasn't stopped," Royce O. Lacey, vice president of NAI/Commercial Industrial Properties Co. in Austin, tells GlobeSt.com. "I don't think we've got any unusual situations going on in the industrial market in Austin... in relation to the national economy."

Lacey and the NAI/CIP team have just released a midyear report showing 529,576 sf of industrial space has been absorbed--and 47% or 247,353 sf has been in the northern submarket. That's 465,235 sf less overall than the first six months of 2000 and just about one third of the prior year's final six months tally.

For years, Austin's industrial market has been a boon for landlords, says Lacey. That's changing as the numbers push toward a more balanced market, he says.