Asking rents for local office space fell 3.2 percent

The Greater Boston office market recorded occupancy declines during the third quarter, largely because of company layoffs, and average asking rent dropped by 3.2 percent over the quarter, Jones Lang LaSalle said.

That's better than several months ago when the average asking rent fell by 14.1 percent between the third quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, Jones Lang LaSalle said.

While there are signs that the local economy is stabilizing, "recovery is still far off," the firm said, with vacancies likely to increase throughout 2010.

Partly as a result, landlords will have to continue to rely on concessions to tenants to complete new leasing transactions, said Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate money management and services firm with a big presence in Greater Boston.

"Market fundamentals will remain tenant favorable for the foreseeable future," the firm's report said.