... The USC Casden Forecast's annual outlook for office landlords is bleak: high vacancies, falling demand and -- for the first time in six years -- falling rents. But those trends could be good news for office tenants and all-cash buyers searching for well-priced properties in prime locations, forecast director Delores Conway said.
"The pendulum has swung from landlords to tenants for the first time since 2003," she said. "Credit-worthy tenants should be able to renegotiate leases to their advantage."
"It's the first time that I've seen weak demand in every single submarket in this whole L.A. area," Conway said, adding that we haven't seen the full impact yet of the takeover of institutions like Washington Mutual and Bears Sterns. Those takeovers will result in even more office consolidation.
December 14, 2008