Office Vacancy Rates Head Upward Again

After four consecutive quarters of decreases, office vacancy rates worsened in west Ventura County in the second quarter, according to a survey by CB Commercial Real Estate Group.

The upturn was caused largely by continued defense cutbacks and stagnant growth in service-related businesses, said Tim Grant of CB’s Ventura office.

Grant said the office vacancy rate in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo rose to 25.2% in the second quarter. This compared with 23.9% in this year’s first quarter and 25.6% in the second quarter of 1991.

The survey of 90 office buildings in the county’s coastal plain found that 780,000 square feet of space is available. Over the long run, however, Grant expects the vacancy rate to resume its downward trend.

He said only two major new office projects are under way--the 27,000-square-foot United Food & Commercial Workers headquarters building in Camarillo, and the 115,000-square-foot regional headquarters of the State Compensation Insurance Fund in the Oxnard Town Center.