County Office Vacancy Rate Dips Slightly
While demand for office space in the Conejo Valley has continued to increase through the first half of the year, western portions of Ventura County still lag behind, according to analysts with CB Commercial Real Estate.
“We have good news and bad news,” said Michael Slater, an office real estate market analyst for CB Commercial, unveiling a midyear report Thursday. “The good news is that countywide the vacancy rate has decreased. The bad news is that all the growth took place in the east county.”
During the same period, the industrial and retail markets remained virtually unchanged, according to the report.
Analysts said the rise in office space leases in the east county, which has helped strengthen the county’s overall commercial real estate market, is a sign of the continuing economic recovery.
“The recovery is going on very nicely,” said UC Santa Barbara economist Mark Schniepp. And despite office vacancy rates that are almost double those on the east side of the Conejo Grade, the western sections of the county are also benefiting from the recovery, Schniepp said.
Overall, the county’s vacancy rate for office space decreased by 0.8% to 14.5%, continuing a trend that began in 1992, when vacancies were higher than 26%, according to the midyear report.
At 22.7%, Camarillo still has the highest vacancy rate of any city in the county, with Ventura not far behind at 21.5%. By contrast, Thousand Oaks has an office vacancy rate of 12.5%, and in nearby Westlake Village in Los Angeles County, only 8% of offices are vacant.
“Ever since the Northridge earthquake, people [from the San Fernando Valley] have flocked to the Conejo Valley,” Slater said. With the office space filling up in that area, growth would likely spill into Camarillo and the Oxnard plain, Slater predicted. Lower lease rates should also help fuel future growth in the western portions of the county, Slater said.
Schniepp said Ventura has always lagged behind other cities, in part because it had not invested as much in attracting business.
The numbers released by CB Commercial have to be taken with a grain of salt, however, since the real estate company only surveys sites that are at least 10,000 square feet.
“They are missing all of the small businesses, where most of the economic recovery is taking place,” Schniepp said.
The gap between the eastern and western portions of the county is also evident in the real estate market for retail space. While vacancies have increased from 8.1% to 8.3% in the west county, they have decreased from 4.4% to 4.1% east of the Conejo Grade.
But while most of the vacancies in the western part of county are in Camarillo, the city of Ventura has only 2.8% of its retail space unused.
“Ventura is still perceived as the hub of retail in the county,” said Reed Henkelman, a vice president with CB Commercial.
