The report also says that construction is down to its lowest level since 1998, with five buildings completed and eight more under construction. Two of the buildings include the Farmington Hills Officenter I and the $500 million Ford Field, new home for the Detroit Lions football team.

Still, the officials at CB said there's been very little change in vacancy rates, asking rental rates and net absorption levels since the second quarter. The suburban vacancy rate rose slightly from 17% to 17.3% while downtown vacancy increased from 25% to 25.5%. Also, net absorption, while slightly negative, was relatively flat for the third quarter, a refreshing change from the 1.8 million sf of negative absorption experienced in the first two quarters of 2002, said CB officials.

While the third quarter provided a number of promising signs of what may be a leveling off of the slumping economy, a "wait and see" approach for the next few quarters will more definitively establish whether or not the slumping economy has actually begun to reverse its course, said CB market analysts.