Small City currently has $1,164,000$ square feet of office space, of which $873,000$ square feet is occupied by $3,000$ employees who are mainly involved in professional services such as finance, insurance, and real estate. Small City$$s economy has been fairly strong in recent years, but employment growth is expected to be somewhat lower during the next few years, with projections of an increase of just $106$ additional employees per year for the next three years. The amount of space per employee is expected to remain the same. However, a new $50,600$ square foot office building was started before the recession and its space is expected to become available at the end of the current year $($one year from now$).$ No more space is expected to become available after that for quite some time.

Required:

a$.$ What is the current occupancy rate for office space in Small City?

b$.$ How much office space will be absorbed each year for the next three years?

c$.$ What will the occupancy rate be at the end of each of the next three years?

d$.$ Based on the above analysis, do you think it is more likely that office rental rates will rise or fall over the next three years?