BOMA Benchmarking Reports Shows Property Managers Tightly Controlled Operating Expenses in 2009

WASHINGTON, DC – July 14, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Property managers tightly controlled operating expenses throughout 2009, according to the 2010 Experience Exchange Report (EER), released by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International in collaboration with Kingsley Associates. Analysis of operating income and expense data from “same buildings”—those who submitted data in both 2009 and 2010, whose total rentable area did not change by more than 10 percent and whose occupancy did not change by more than 15 percent—reveals that total operating expenses for U.S. private sector buildings declined by a little more than one percent. The decrease in total operating expenses illustrates what commercial real estate managers have noted all year: there is considerable pressure to reduce operating expenses and maintain strong net operating income. Rental income for all U.S. private sector buildings increased marginally, up one percent in 2009. For U.S. private sector downtown buildings, rental income increased 2.5 percent in 2009.