French office rents to slide 10%-15% in 2009 - FNAIM

French office rents are likely to fall by 10% to 15% in the aftermath of a very difficulty economic phase that the market appeared to have already left, according to Pierre FNAIM real estate agent association member Pierre Chanaud. While January is usually the quietest month of the year, the start of 2009 was characterised by a slight rebound in activity both in terms of signed deals as in site visits, leading FNAIM members to assume that companies have ended their wait-and-see phase and are gradually moving into action. FNAIM says transactions fell last year by 38%, with around 2.3m sq.m. marketed. However average yields, which held at a very low 3.5% to 3.8% in the period 2006/2007, rose to around 5.5% at the start of this year for trophy assets, and even exceeded 6% in some CBD assets in Paris. Chanaud said they may well rise further toward 7% over the course of this year.