As a result average asking rents for such space rose to $21,96 from $20.55.

The average asking rent was $43.97 a square foot, a high for the area.

Around 290,000 square feet are still available at asking rents of $20 to $25 a foot a year, less than half 1988 levels.

As for average asking rents, they are about half the peak reached in 2000.

Average asking rents have risen by more than 23 percent in the last 18 months.

The county's average asking annual rent per square foot is $26.27.

During the same 12-month period, the average asking rents for primary space declined by nearly 7 percent.

Brokers say asking rents there, too, are down 5 to 15 percent in the last year.

And the average asking rent per square foot has slipped by 5 percent to $26.25 a year.

In Manhattan the average asking rent is from $45 to $100 per square foot.