The office property markets have seen significant price movement in the past five years, and recent activity has focused on the trophy and troubled ends of the spectrum. Price dispersion may provide a signal of market turning points well before the actual turn.

From the period of first quarter 2005 until third quarter 2010, the value of investment-grade office properties dropped approximately 37 percent from peak to trough using theMoody’s/Real Commercial Property Price Indices, CoStar Commercial Repeat-Sale Indices or MIT Transactions-Based Index. The peak in office values was reached in second quarter 2007, with the average price at $191 per square foot nationwide across the whole quarter for all classes, not ju