Orange County Industrial Market Report

Distribution center metrics skew fundamentals. Industrial tenants across Orange County absorbed 780,000 square feet of space from October 2025 through March 2026, which ended seven quarters of net relinquishment. Still, local vacancy is historically elevated, sitting at 6.8 percent as of April. Much of this available space, however, is concentrated within distribution centers. Across the property type, vacancy doubled over the past 12 months ending in March to 14.0 percent, a reaction to some larger users, including Republic National Distributing Company, exiting the market along with a collection of speculative deliveries. In contrast, warehouse vacancy declined 30 basis points over the same yearlong interval, falling below 6 percent, while manufacturing availability held in the mid-5 percent range. Based on recent lease executions, the latter sector may drive overall absorption in the coming quarters as several upcoming move-ins are scheduled at facilities larger than 50,000 square feet. Still, the metro will end 2026 with its highest year-end vacancy rate since 2002.