What Are Vacancy Rates in Orange County, California?
Vacancy rates are one of the most important variables to consider when gauging the health of an office market. In fact, we find one of the most common questions our clients ask is “what are office vacancy rates in Orange County?”
To help answer that question, in this article we’ve broken down vacancy rates across the Orange County office market, including:
Overall vacancy in Orange County
Vacancy rates in Orange County’s submarkets
Overall Vacancy in Orange County
For starters, let’s look at vacancy in Orange County as a whole. As you can see in the chart below, the current vacancy rate for Orange County (including both direct and sublease space) is 11.6%.
Orange County currently has roughly 158 million square feet of existing office space, 18.4 million square feet of which is currently vacant. Vacancy in Orange County has been trending downward since early 2021 but, like most office markets, is still above pre-Covid-19 rates.
Vacancy Rates in Orange County’s Submarkets
There are five primary submarkets in the Orange County office market, each of which has its own unique characteristics and trends. We’ve broken down vacancy across these submarkets to provide a more granular view of office vacancy rates in Orange County today.
Greater Airport Area
The Greater Airport Area is Orange County’s largest submarket, currently having nearly 54 million square feet of existing office space. Vacancy in the submarket currently sits at 14.7%.
South / Laguna Hills
As the second largest of Orange County’s office submarkets, the South / Laguna Hills submarket is no stranger to office leasing activity. Its current vacancy rate is 11.1%, slightly below the overall vacancy rate for Orange County.
West
The West submarket is the smallest of Orange County’s submarkets, currently encompassing just over 14 million square feet of existing office space. Today, the submarket’s vacancy rate is a mere 7.5%, down significantly from a peak of 13% in early 2021 and only a few percentage points away from the historical low of 5%.
Central
Orange County’s Central submarket is similar in size to its South / Laguna Hills submarket, currently having just over 32.5 million square feet of office space. As of this writing, the submarket’s vacancy rate is 12.3%.
North
Last but not least, the North submarket is home to 21.3 million square feet of existing office space. Roughly 1.4 million square feet of that space is currently vacant, giving the submarket a vacancy rate of only 6.6%. Vacancy in this submarket has been on a downward trend since its peak of 15% in 2010.
Conclusion
We hope this answered any questions you had about vacancy rates for Orange County’s office market. Be sure to also check out our article on current rental rates in Orange County, and feel free to reach out to our experienced team if you have any additional questions.
