State House Square in Hartford. Photo courtesy of Google Maps

A new report from commercial real estate firm CBRE says the share of Greater Hartford office space that’s available – either vacant or occupied but available for lease or sublease – hit 29.6 percent in the second quarter. But in a market that saw a 29.9 percent availability rate in the first quarter, that could count as good news.

The direct vacancy rate hit 27.2 percent downtown and 28.2 percent in the market overall, CBRE reported. Average asking rent per square foot per year was $21.51 downtown and $20.52 across the 25.98 million-square-foot regional office market.

The dip in vacancy was driven by 41,860 square feet of positive absorption across the region, itself driven by 120,241 square feet of class A leases downtown and another 92,554 square feet of positive absorption across all office types in the city’s southern suburbs.

Average asking rent per square foot was $20.52, up 3.2 percent year-over-year across the region, but down 2 percent downtown to $21.16.