CoStar: Office markets stable

The market for office occupancy in the United States may finally have bottomed out, suggests one of the nation's leading real estate information firms.

The CoStar Group, which recently issued its The State of the U.S. Office Market: Mid-Year 2010 Review & Forecast report, said office vacancy rates no longer appear to be rising.

"The fact that we are clearly showing some sort of bottom and we don't have a significant increase in vacancy this quarter is very positive news," said CoStar CEO Andrew Florance in a release.

The latest findings place the nation's highest office vacancy rates — near the 17% mark — in the south and southwestern portions of the United States. But CoStar says each of the country's most challenging markets saw small declines in vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2010.

CoStar predicts the current nationwide office vacancy rate of 13.6% will fall below 11% in 2013.