DALLAS-The Dallas-area industrial market showed an overall modest improvement in the third quarter though it has slowed from the torrid activity registered in the first half of the year, reveals a MarketView report issued by CB Richard Ellis.The report also noted that vacancy rates have dropped 0.5% to 10%, but the average asking rate remained effectively flat at $3.53 per sf for warehouse space and $7.40 per sf for flex space. Lease concessions and incentives remain common, and effective rates are typically somewhat lower than the asking rates.The Dallas/Fort Worth industrial market recorded 933,057 sf of positive net absorption in the third quarter. However, that pales compared to the 6.5 million sf of absorption in the first half of the year. The report notes that year-to-date absorption is at 7.4 million sf.The warehouse sector is showing steady improvement but the flex sector showed negative absorption of 424,662 sf in the third quarter. The DFW Airport showed the strongest net absorption with 1.2 million sf. It was followed by the Great SW/Arlington market with 351,116 sf and the South Dallas market with 137,145 sf of positive absorption. Year-to-date, the warehouse sector has recorded more than 7.6 million sf of positive absorption. The flex sector, by contrast, has booked a total of 216,605 sf of negative absorption through the third quarter.Projects under construction have steadily increased in 2005, with 5.15 million sf currently in the construction pipeline. This activity is spread throughout all major markets with the exception of South Dallas, which currently does not have any projects underway. Approximately 75% of the construction properties are speculative compared to last year when only 46% of the projects were spec deals.