London Office $$$ Fall To '91 Rates; 12 Million Sq Ft of Vacancies Soon *20% of City

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ByLoSellHi

-It’s another story in the City of London, where office rents in the U.K.’s main financial district are falling to 1991 levels as job losses and a mistimed building boom depress prices.

The City already has enough empty offices to hold two- thirds of Canary Wharf, the docklands area developed 1 1/2-miles east in the 1980s to lure investment bankers. About 9 million square feet (855,000 square meters) are available in the City and that may climb to 12 million by the end of 2009, according to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the biggest commercial property broker. Almost 19 percent of all City offices may be vacant next year, analysts at CB Richard Ellis estimate.

“We’re in the eye of the storm,” said Bryan Higgins, chief investment officer of Irish homebuilder Menolly Group, which bought 107 Cheapside in the City three years ago for 150 million pounds ($227 million). The building has no tenants. “Supply way exceeds demand,” he said.

Rents will drop to 40 pounds per square foot by the end of this year, the same as 1991 when Canary Wharf got its first tenants, analysts at London-based King Sturge International LLP estimate. Prices declined to 46.50 pounds per square foot in the City during the first quarter from a high of 65 pounds in mid- 2007. Rents fell to as low as 30 pounds two years after Canary Wharf opened.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6DMLSwbH.aQ&refer=home
 
London Bridge is Falling down (that's why they moved it to Lake Havasu).

Now, Canary Wharf is falling down.

All financial centers are getting decimated, and anyone who thinks a bottom is near is delusional.

What's that Leonard Cohen song?

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby ...

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I am guided

Ah remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
 
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