One reason for the stable vacancy rate was the lack of new industrial buildings coming into the lease market without tenants, said Ken Schaefer of Grubb & Ellis. New speculative projects tend to drive up the vacancy rate until they get leased.

There were companies with a local presence checking out the industrial market in the second quarter, said David Genrich of Real Estate Advisors. But instead of relocating, decisions are made to stay where they are.

"For a lot of national companies, their Albuquerque business is doing well and they can justify expansion," he said. "Some have got trailers in the parking lot because they can't get all of their material in the building."

Genrich said, because of concerns about the national economy, "corporate (headquarters) will tell them, 'Let's wait.'"

The biggest single move in the second quarter was Houston-based ATCO Rubber Products Inc. vacating 69,300 square feet at the Sandia Distribution Center on the West Side. But enough smaller deals that filled vacancies more than made up for space that went empty in the second quarter, Grubb & Ellis says.