The Manufacturing and Warehouse sector, which makes up the majority of the Orange County industrial market, has grown to 5,451 buildings totaling approximately 200 million square feet. North Orange County accounts for nearly half of the entire M & W; base, and the Airport area accounts for another 27% of the rentable M & W; area.
The level of gross activity for M & W; space in 2000 was the highest during the fourth quarter as more than 4 million square feet were leased or sold. Total net absorption for M & W; buildings in the county increased in the quarter to 1.7 million square feet and brought the year-to-date net absorption level to 4.8 million square feet. More than 45% of the quarterly net absorption was in North Orange County.
The continuous demand for M & W; product in Orange County drove availability rates down to 4.3% in the final quarter of 2000, a 28% drop from the availability rate of 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 1999. Actual vacancy for M & W; space also has been declining. By the end of the year, only 1.4 million square feet remained vacant in the M & W; market, bringing the vacancy rate to just 0.7%.
The scarcity of available space in the Orange County M & W; market pushed the lease rates up 2 cents in the fourth quarter to end the year at 60 cents per square foot per month. South Orange County and the Airport Area maintained the highest rent per square foot at 69 cents and 67 cents respectively.
Twelve new M & W; buildings were completed during the fourth quarter, adding more than 1 million square feet of new space to the Orange County industrial base. There were 34 M & W; buildings under construction at the end of the quarter, which will add an additional 1.2 million square feet of M & W; product upon completion. The majority of this development activity is in North Orange County, where a total of 562,294 square feet are under construction.
