Glut keeps rental rates down

Glut keeps rental rates down

Think the auto industry is tough? Try the office market.

Back in the mid-’80s, developer Peter Burton built the Arboretum office park in Farmington Hills and advertised space at the going rate of $18 per square foot.

Today, in an office market awash with high vacancies and low demand, the rental rate Burton can charge is stuck at that same $18 per square foot — or about 50% less than 20 years ago, once inflation is taken into account.