The Perimeter Center business district led metro Atlanta in net leasing of office space in the second quarter, according to a report released Thursday by Richard Bowers & Co., a commercial real estate company in Atlanta.

The office market centered at I-285 and Ga. 400 posted absorption of 303,711 square feet, according to the Bowers report. The area's vacancy rate is 13.2 percent, it said.

Following the Perimeter Center area in net absorption were Buckhead/Lenox, at 183,199 square feet; the Northeast Expressway, at 166,141 square feet; and the I-285/I-85 area, at 132,358, according to the report.

Average rent in the Perimeter Center area was $22.92 a square foot, highest among suburban office markets, according to the report. Buckhead had the region's highest average rate, at $26.66 a square foot.

The metro Atlanta office market has absorbed 1.1 million square feet this year, Bowers reported. That's down from 1.3 million square feet absorbed during the same period last year.

Vacancy rates across the metro area stand at 15.2 percent, down from 16.3 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2007.