Office vacancies in downtown Los Angeles surged.

A nationwide survey by Grubb & Ellis showed that downtown Los Angeles now has an office vacancy rate of 18%--more than double San Francisco’s rate of 8% but well below San Diego’s 26% level. The increased vacancies in Los Angeles resulted because 2.8 million square feet of office space has flooded the market in the past 90 days, the real estate brokerage said. Total square footage in downtown Los Angeles now stands at 22.7 million.