Most of the Orange County office market consists of low-rise inventory that has been marked by attractive lease rates and incentives of late.
Space in 1,500 such buildings totals 55.2 million square feet, forming a sector that ended 2011 with a 13.7% vacancy rate following 464,663 square feet of positive net absorption.
JWA Area
The John Wayne Airport Area had the lowest low-rise vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, dropping to 12% from a third-quarter rate of 12.7% and year-earlier rate of 14.2%.
South OC dipped to 15.5% by year’s end from a third-quarter rate of 16.3%, but all other submarkets had increased vacancy rates this quarter.
North OC now holds a rate of 13.7%, up from the previous quarter’s rate of 12.1%, while Central OC increased to 13.5% from 13%.
West Orange County rose to 15.2% from a previous 12.7%.
The average asking lease rate among low-rise space slipped 2 cents in the fourth quarter to $1.80 per square foot. But the rate of decline slowed, suggesting growing optimism for the market as a whole.
West, South Shed
West and South OC shed 1 cent this quarter, with West OC falling to an average rent of $1.78 and South Orange County decreasing to $1.95 per square foot.
The average asking rate in Central OC marked a 3-cent drop to $1.50 per square foot, while North OC’s rate decreased 2 cents to $1.82.
Data and analysis provided by CBRE Re-search.
The Real Estate Watch Chart
Net Absorption, Rates, etc. is provided in a Adobe Reader .pdf print-friendly file.
