Estimating Occupied Office Space: Comparing Alternative Forecast Methodologies

Abstract

This study compares alternative methodologies that can be used to forecast growth in a market's occupied office space. Trend line analysis methods are compared to econometric methods. Using 1978 through 1987 data from the Boston market, these models have been used to predict the known performance of the market in 1988 and 1989 permitting comparison of these models in terms of their overall performance and their ability to predict the recent downturn in that market. The results suggest that real estate practitioners and planners should employ econometric techniques in their efforts to forecast the incremental changes in occupied office space.