O.C. Office Vacancy Rate Drops

The Orange County office-space market showed signs of improvement during the first quarter as vacancy rates continued to decline. The decrease was partly because of a virtual absence of any new construction, however. Net absorption--the amount of space taken off the market--totaled 340,136 square feet. That was nearly four times the previous year’s first-quarter absorption of 86,812 square feet. A look at O.C.’s office vacancy rate:

1st qtr. ’93 1st qtr. ’94 Airport area 21.2% 17.2% South 18.7 16.2 Central 21.5 20.3 North 18.3 19.2 West 17.6 18.2 Total 20.5% 17.8%

Airport: Parts of Newport Beach, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin and Fountain Valley

South: Irvine Spectrum area, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Foothill Ranch, El Toro, Rancho Santa Margarita

Central: Orange; parts of Anaheim, Santa Ana and Tustin

North: Fullerton, Buena Park, Placentia, Brea, La Habra; parts of Anaheim

West: Huntington Beach, Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, La Palma, Stanton, Los Alamitos; parts of Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa

Source: Grubb & Ellis; Researched by DEBORA VRANA and JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times