In Boston, the downtown market vacancy rate for commercial real estate at year-end 2008 was 10.6 percent, up from 8.6 percent the year prior. In the suburbs, vacancy rates for 2008 were 17.1 percent, compared to 12 percent in 2007, according to the Q4 office report from Boston-based Colliers International, a global real estate services firm.

The fourth quarter did little to bolster the U.S. office real estate market, as year-end was marked by the fifth-consecutive quarter of rising national vacancies, the report said.

National office vacancies jumped 54 basis points from Q3, and registered 14.19 percent at the close of Q4 2008. One year ago at this time, the national vacancy rate stood at 12.6 percent.

This upward trend in vacancy was reflected in both downtown and suburban markets nationwide, with vacancy rates at 12.08 percent for downtown markets and 15.19 percent for suburban markets, Colliers said.