Orange County Office MarketView Insert Q2 2021

High-rise office buildings have lost some of their appeal as employees aren’t clamoring to return to crammed elevators resulting in negative 243,042 sq. ft. of net absorption for the asset type.

The overall average asking lease rate dropped $0.05 to $2.95 per sq. ft. per month, the lowest rate since Q3 2018.

Overall vacancy ticked up 70 bps to 13.0% since Q1 2021 and was up 270 bps year over year. Leasing activity did pick up pace in Q2 2021 with deal volume up 21.6% year over year; however, overall leased square footage was down 2.5% since last year.