— By Terrison Quinn, Managing Principal, SRS Real Estate Partners — The Orange County retail property market was very active last year for both leasing and capital markets. At 4 percent, Orange County’s retail vacancy was back down to pre-pandemic levels. There was an annual net positive absorption of 445,000 square feet with 191,000 square feet of new space delivered in 2022, per CoStar. Average rents increased 5 percent from an average market rent of $34.84 per square foot, per year to $36.58 — the highest rate of rent growth in 10 years. We don’t see rents coming down at all this year, especially as there’s only 170,000 square feet of new space currently under construction and we continue to experience favorable consumer demand. From a capital markets perspective, investment activity remains to be seen. In line with national trends, many investors and lenders are putting capital deployment on pause as they analyze economic activity and adjust to a period of higher interest rates, higher inflation and, perhaps surprisingly, strong employment. Despite the angst that comes from uncertainty, there is a lot of positive sentiment toward economic corrections, creating investment opportunities over the coming years. This is certainly the …
