Getting an accurate picture of the vacancy levels of commercial lease space is not easy at the best of times.

Right now, as businesses are carefully reviewing their space needs, the amount of space available to sub lease has grown considerably; in the office, industrial and retail sectors.

Official vacancy rate calculations don’t take sublet space into account, so in effect there is a (more…)

The summer holidays make us all intensely interested in the weather, even more than usual. And if there’s a run of bad weather, it can have us end up feeling down in the dumps and resentful, thinking life is conspiring against us.

I’m just back from an awesome trip around the South Island, through some of the world’s greatest landscapes in places such as Fiordland. We visited some stunning spots, but as it is in that part of the world, we had some days of bad weather. It’s par for the course.

This had me reflect on plans for 2009, and it came to me that in the current economic conditions, more than ever before, we (more…)