Cost of Office Space in County : High Vacancy Brings It Down

A list of things that cost less now than they did 3 years ago might be pretty short--especially if it was limited to Orange County items.

However, the price of at least one thing has dropped here: rented office space.

According to Coldwell Banker, the county’s average monthly lease rate per square foot of vacant existing office space was $1.65 in the fourth quarter of 1988. That’s 2 cents less than the average rate in the fourth quarter of 1985, and 8 cents lower than a year ago.

A big reason for this inflation-defying trend is the large amount of vacant office space here. The office vacancy rate for the 1988 fourth quarter was 21.7%, up from 15.1% about 4 years ago, Coldwell Banker reported. A building boom that helped to produce all that empty space continues, with 3.6 million square feet of space under construction. Existing space totals 45.4 million square feet, Coldwell Banker said.

Corona del Mar had the highest average lease rate in the county, $2.25 per square foot. Bargain hunters should head for Fountain Valley or Yorba Linda, where the average is 95 cents.

AVERAGE ASKING MONTHLY LEASE RATES FOR EXISTING OFFICE SPACE

Fourth Quarter, 1988

Average Total City Lease Rate Square Feet Anaheim $1.65 $2,660,446 Brea $1.51 1,603,449 Buena Park $1.33 214,832 Corona del Mar $2.25 46,000 Costa Mesa $1.64 3,641,040 Cypress $1.45 546,075 El Toro $1.64 381,788 Fountain Valley $0.95 735,939 Fullerton $1.28 923,385 Garden Grove $1.33 727,721 Huntington Beach $1.65 1,107,010 Irvine $1.90 10,350,901 La Palma $1.21 363,972 Laguna Hills $1.70 1,465,246 Laguna Niguel $1.50 128,752 Lake Forest $1.63 44,292 Los Alamitos $1.15 119,000 Mission Viejo $1.73 565,891 Newport Beach $2.03 6,723,987 Orange $1.63 5,061,691 Placentia $1.50 109,160 San Juan Capistrano $1.65 43,000 Santa Ana $1.40 6,151,638 Seal Beach $1.91 326,686 Tustin $1.40 838,887 Westminster $1.41 369,846 Yorba Linda $0.95 46,708 Total $1.65 45,447,026

Source: Coldwell Banker