Of the 176 cities CBRE tracked, 133 saw occupancy costs dip.Roughly 33 markets registered double-digit percentage pointdeclines, while 53 markets—smaller ones impacted by shifts in keymarket assets—witnessed annual increases, according to thesurvey.

So how does this reflect on the much-touted global recovery? Ifrates are still dwindling in a number of major markets, what doesthat say about the rebound? "Commercial real estate lags theeconomy," CBRE's chief global economist, Raymond Torto, remindedparticipants on this morning's conference call announcing thesurvey results. "A lot of the decline we tracked occurred in thefirst couple of months of 2009," but the rates will likely continueto bottom out this year, he noted.

But all hope is not lost, chimed in Michael Haddock, director ofCBRE's Global Research and Consulting. "Within a year or two, therewill be rental growth in prime office space," he said. Historicaltrends have shown, he added, that economic recover is followed byemployment growth, then occupancy and finally rental growth.