The speaker is Stanley Simon, CEO of Newmark JGT of New Jersey, the firm that resulted from the merger earlier this year of Newmark & Co. and Jacobson, Goldfarb & Tanzman. "The market has been dichotomized into direct and sublet space," Simon tells GlobeSt.com. "The majority of the sublet space is in Central New Jersey, which is home to a number of companies that have shed space to cut costs. For the most part, these companies are concentrated in the communication, financial and dot-com industries."

In terms of numbers in the 11 counties tracked by Newmark JGT, the market had a negative absorption of almost 7.8 million sf at the end of the third quarter of last year. Overall asking offices rents had stabilized at $24 per sf gross, mostly because of the increase in sublet space in class A buildings. The overall available office space was just over 30.2 million sf, with 21.75 million being direct and the rest sublet.

"Essentially, landlords who are well positioned with money and low vacancies are still less flexible than the subletting tenant," according to Simon. "Subleasing presents a number of options - terms can be short or long, and options may be assumable. The landlord may write a new lease if the tenant's credit is good. Also, furniture, technology and tenant improvements may be in place, and occupancy can be immediate. Finally, most locations are in 'A' buildings."