According to statistics for the fourth quarter of 2002 compiled by Spaulding & Slye Colliers International, vacancy rates have risen or remained the same in nearly every sector of the market with sublease space continuing to be a major culprit in the amount of excess space.

The vacancy rate for the overall suburbs was 16.1% for the fourth quarter compared with 13.5% for the third quarter of the year. With sublease space factored in, the fourth quarter's availability rate for the overall suburbs shoots up to 27%, just slightly higher than the third quarter's 26.4%.

This trend repeats itself throughout the market. In the Northern suburbs, availability rate is at 24% for the quarter. In the Northwest, it's at 30.2% while the Route 128/MassPike market has an availability rate of 27.7%. The Route 495/ Mass Pike market has 29.8% availability rate and the Route 495/North market has a rate of 30.9%. Only the tiny Route 495/South market has a lower availability rate of 15.6%.

The one bright spot on the horizon is that net absorption for the fourth quarter was a negative 52,207 sf. Last quarter the absorption rate was negative 483,896 sf.