Office Vacancies Limit Income

The high vacancy rates and overbuilding that plague most of the nation’s office markets contributed to a “marginal” increase of 1.4% in net operating income last year over 1988, according to the Building Owners & Managers Assn. International (BOMA).

According to the just-published BOMA “1990 Experience Exchange Report,” the nation’s overall office building occupancy rate stands at 81.8%. Occupancy factors over the last decade range from a high of 93.7% in 1981 to a low of 79.4% in 1987, according to BOMA.

Expenses have increased “across the board,” according to Roland O. Downing, president of the Washington-based professional association, while “defense spending cutbacks, down sizing in financial circles, and mergers and acquisitions are reducing the demand for office space at a time when supply is still increasing.”

Information about the book, which uses data from 4,335 office buildings in 108 cities in the United States and Canada, is available from BOMA International, 1201 New York Ave., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20005.