The region’s top 19 commercial real estate brokerages said they saw renewed activity in the retail and office sectors in 2025, while the industrial sector is struggling to find a solid footing.
The firms’ Orange County offices recorded a 6.6% increase in transaction value for sales and leases to $40 billion in 2025, according to Business Journal research. The number of sales rose 3.7% to 3,301 while the leasing volume was little changed at 9,722.
CBRE’s Irvine office claimed the top spot again, reporting transaction value of $7.3 billion last year, down 15% from 2024. Sales increased 11% to 274, while leasing activity was flat.
Taylor Wood of Savills Inc. told the Business Journal that corporate confidence has increased year over year.
“We are seeing more of our clients make longer-term decisions with regard to their offices, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities,” he said.
Voit Real Estate Services Chief Executive Eric Hinkelman said that while brokers are cautiously optimistic, given increased activity in the first couple of months of 2026, they’re still preparing for headwinds.
“It also seems like every time we feel like there is growing stability, something throws a curve ball at us,” Hinkelman said.
Firms also faced a “disconnect between buyer and seller expectations.”
While the 2026 outlook is positive, Kurt Strasmann of CBRE Group Inc. agrees that caution should be taken since “the longer geopolitical conflicts continue, the greater the risk of slowed transactions and deals.
“Decision-making is challenging when there is uncertainty,” Strasmann said.
2025 Value Up
Savills in Newport Beach, No. 7 on the list, reported a 104% increase to $2.4 billion in value with 436 leases and 18 sales in 2025.
“Leasing has improved due to most of the workforce returning to the office,” Vice Chairman Wood said, highlighting a 70% recovery rate in Irvine since 2020. “Tenant demand is showing signs of stabilization as occupiers have gained confidence in their future business plans and have moved beyond a wait-and-see approach.”
When asked about the least active sector last year, Wood said that it “was industrial—specifically the logistics & distribution sector.
SRS Real Estate Partners reported $2.7 billion in transactions from its Newport Beach office, a 34% increase. The brokerage recorded a 6.4% increase in leases to 216 and a 45% rise in sales to 627, driven by the retail sector.
“Grocery, national quick service restaurants (QSR), home improvement and credit boxes, gas and convenience stores, car wash and medical uses remain in demand,” Senior Managing Principal Matthew Mousavi said. “Fitness is also strong with investors as the sector expands.”
At No. 11, Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors recorded a 44% jump to $1.1 billion in transaction value during 2025, marking a record year for the Corona del Mar firm. It increased sales by 38% to 208 transactions last year, led by activity in necessity-based retail.
“One of the contributors was our activity in the junior box–anchored segment, where we closed seven transactions in the last nine months of 2025, totaling more than $150 million and nearly one million square feet,” President Ed Hanley said.
Irvine-based Voit grew 17% to $2.1 billion in sales and lease activity in 2025.
“With such uncertainty through 2024, including multiple rate hikes, many companies sat on the sidelines making do with what they had,” CEO Hinkelman said. “There was more clarity plus pent-up demand in 2025.”
The firm reported 1,387 leases and 226 sales last year, up 4.9% and down 5.8% from the year prior, respectively.
2025 Value Down
The Hoffman Company in Irvine fell 48% in transaction value to $650 million in 2025 with 56 sales last year, down from 77 in 2024—“a result of the slowdown in the new home market,” according to Principal Tom Dallape.
Irvine’s Land Advisors Organization was down 35% to $905 million in transactions from last year. The firm reported that 2025 sales fell 41% to 217 due to a slowdown in the residential land market “driven by affordability constraints and broader economic uncertainty.”
“Elevated interest rates increased the cost of capital, putting pressure on pricing and overall deal feasibility,” said Tony Eaton, president of the California division.
Kidder Mathews reported a 13% increase in 2025 sales but a 41% drop in leases to 169.
The deals totaled $410 million last year, down 15% from 2024.
Lee & Associates Realty Group is represented on the list by its three offices in Irvine, Newport Beach and Orange. The group collectively reported 779 leases and 201 sales in OC last year, valued at $1.2 billion—a 7.3% decline from the year before. The Newport Beach office reported decreases in both sales and leases last year, with transaction value down 23% to $483 million.
Employment
The OC offices saw a drop in headcount compared with a year ago, with local employees down 5.4% to 1,603 and OC brokers down 1.7% to 910 as of March.
While gaining several new brokers, SRS’s headcount declined 19% to 100.
Newmark’s Irvine office, ranked No. 2 on the list, fell 28% to 220 employees while increasing its number of brokers to 58.
Kidder Mathews in Irvine lost almost half of its OC brokers from a year ago, with 29 as of March.
