Washington, D.C. having an office boom

Washington, D.C. is set to topple New York City as the most expensive office rental market in the country. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports why everyone -- from corporations to lobbyists -- is vying for real estate in the nation's capital.
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Washington, D.C. is set to topple the Big Apple as the most expensive office rental market in the country. Nancy Marshall Genzer has more.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: There are no bargains here. Washington rental prices are only down about 3 percent from last year. Compare that to New York, where they're off nearly 20 percent
Real estate analysts say New York is still struggling to recover from the financial crisis. Washington, on the other hand, is booming. That happens a lot during recessions, when the government is doing most of the hiring and needs extra office space.
The Wall Street Journal says the Department of Homeland Security wants to lease about a million more square feet of office space. Corporations are moving to Washington to be closer to the government. Northrop Grumman announced this week that it's relocating to D.C.
And lobbyists are jostling for more office space here. They're lobbying furiously on health care, energy and other hot topics on Capitol Hill
In Washington, I'm Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.

Source:marketplace.publicradio.org/