According to the company's figures, the Chicago industrial market, marking a shift from leasing activity to sales, remains relatively steady. Leasing across the market was 15 million sf in the third quarter of 2001, representing a 21% decline compared with the same quarter a year ago. Sales activity registered a 52.3% increase to 15.3 million sf in 3Q '01, as compared with 3Q '00.

Insignia/ESG pegs the industrial market's availability rate at 8.1%, up from 6.2% a year ago and attributes the difference to a large influx of sublease space. It attributes the leasing decline not only to the overall economic slowdown but also to low interest rates.

"Today, it can be as cost-effective to purchase a building as it is to lease one," says Jim Swartchild, executive director of Insignia/ESG's Midwest Industrial Services Group. "Low interest rates have no doubt provided users with options other than leasing."