The national commercial real estate market felt a slowdown in the long-term trend of declining vacancy rates during the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a report released by CB Richard Ellis and Torto Wheaton Research.

Two sectors, office and industrial properties, showed essentially no improvement in occupancy. The industrial sector ended the year at the same 9.4 percent vacancy rate it began with, and the office sector fell 10 basis points to 12.5 percent. Nationally, the office market has seen vacancy rates decline since the second quarter of 2003, the report said.

Debra Kastantin, director of research and information at Grubb & Ellis/Mid-America Commercial, said the office and industrial markets in Greater Des Moines followed a similar trend to the national markets in the fourth quarter. Kastantin said the industrial market was “tight” at the end of 2007, and the office market saw negative absorption.

Nationally, the report said downtown office markets performed better than suburban markets. More than half of all suburban markets experienced an increase in vacancy rates in the fourth quarter.

“The fourth-quarter results are consistent with our expectations,” said Raymond Torto, principal of CBRE Torto Wheaton Research. “The outlook is for more of the same in the first half of 2008.”