Nevertheless, the industrial vacancy in Philadelphia County was7.5% compared with a 9% vacancy for the entire region. Averageasking rental rates in the country were $4.46 per sf for industrialspace and $8 per sf for flex space. This compares with an askingaverage of $4.42 per sf for industrial, and $8.56 per sf for flexspace throughout the entire region, which includes the Camden, NJand New Castle, DE submarkets.

Guerrieri attributes the regional slide primarily to a lack ofjob growth. While the education, health, construction and retailindustries gained approximately 14,000 jobs over the past year, hereports, manufacturing lost 8,800 jobs.

Just three Pennsylvania submarkets in the Philadelphiaregion--Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties-–saw positiveindustrial absorption between Jan. 1 and March 31, and theirrespective vacancy rates at the end of that quarter were 11.6%,4.5%, and 10.8%. Both Chester and Montgomery commanded the highestaverage asking rental rate in the area, $5.22 per sf, according toG&E. The average for flex space in Chester County was $9.44 persf, and, in Montgomery County, the average for flex space was$10.41 per sf, the highest in the region for flex product.