Property Type

— By Marty Pupil — The Orange County office sector continues to battle through the early stages of a market turnaround as tenants adapt to new workplace strategies while balancing employee retention and company production. The market is beginning to thaw, however, as more tenants make decisions on their office space requirements, creating opportunities for tenant activity. Net absorption was negative at the onset of 2024, totaling 338,100 square feet. South County experienced the highest amount of move-outs at 199,002 square feet, followed by the Airport Area with 171,171 square feet. Central County, North County and West County submarkets combined for positive absorption of 32,073 square feet. Right now, positive absorption shows up in pockets of the market and can vary by submarket and quarter. Positive absorption for the overall market will become sustainable when new leasing activity reaches levels that are high enough to compensate for givebacks. Total vacancy in the first quarter rose 20 basis points quarter over quarter to 18.1 percent from 17.9 percent, while increasing year over year from 18 percent. Despite this, current vacancy remains well above the pre-pandemic 10-year average of 13.9 percent. For perspective, vacancy peaked at 19.2 percent during the financial crisis …