Orange County Retail Market Report

Least-vacant submarket becomes even tighter. Orange County's retail sector was relatively sturdy over the past year ended in March 2024, with vacancy drifting up by a modest 10 basis points to 4.7 percent. That increase was largely due to soft performance in one submarket: Central Orange County. The negative net absorption of almost 310,000 square feet here over the past 12 months lifted the area's vacancy rate by 160 basis points year-over-year to a metro-high of 6.5 percent. Less than 10,000 square feet is being added to the submarket in 2024, however, which should direct expanding tenants to existing available stock. While headwinds in Central Orange County weighed on overall performance, the market's highest-rent submarket — the Airport Area — generated momentum. Vacancy here fell by 70 basis points to a metro-low rate of 2.5 percent, the tightest measure since the onset of the pandemic.