1st Quarter 2001 Market Statistics
Existing Commercial and Industrial Real Estate

New commercial development between 1998 and 2000 produced over 5 million square feet of office, industrial, and retail space in Ventura County. However, vacancy rates have fallen during this time, reflecting very strong demand for non-residential space in the County.

Absorption of available space has been faster than expected, as commercial and industrial building vacancy declined further in 2000. The greater demand for space was induced by spectacular job creation in the technology and manufacturing sectors of the Ventura County economy. Click on graph to see a larger image.

OFFICE MARKET

Westcord estimated the office space vacancy rate at 9.7% for all of Ventura County at the end of 2000.

West County

Completed office buildings are not available for very long, as evidenced by the prolific net absorption of office space in the Oxnard Coastal Plain. The base of office space is estimated at 3.4 million square feet. Vacant and available space at the end of 2000 was measured at 12.9 percent in the West County. Most of the absorption of space occurred in Camarillo, with 3330,230 square feet of leases during the calendar year. Click on graph to see a larger image.

Conejo Valley

The Conejo Valley office submarket straddles the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. Due to its location between Los Angeles and the Ventura Coastal Plain, the Conejo Valley draws office tenants with different requirements. This is a relatively upscale market attracting tenants willing to pay, not only for image, but for the opportunity to participate in the fastest growing technology cluster in Southern California. The Conejo Valley contains 4.4 million square feet of office space.

The Conejo Valley office market has a close relationship with the industrial product of the area. May large office tenants unable to find large enough blocks of contiguous apace in traditional office buildings have converted industrial and R&D buildings for office use. The best example of this is the Conejo Spectrum. Click on graph to see a larger image.

During 2000, Xircom Inc. leased a 200,000-square-foot build-to-suit at Conejo Spectrum in Thousand Oaks. Homestore.com, Inc. leased a 134,340-square-foot facility in the Westlake North Business Park. Digital Insight expanded into Westlake and now employs over 100 people there. Besides strong demand from office tenants, there were a number of significant sales. Pacifica Real Estate Group acquired a 130,511-square-foot office building in Westlake Village.

At the end of 2000 the industrial vacancy rate was measured at 7.1 percent, based on a survey of 56.8 million square feet in Ventura County. The rate is currently at an all time low.

In the East County the vacancy rate ended the year at 8.3 percent, reflecting in large part, the gross absorption of over 1 million square feet of space in the Conejo and Simi Valleys. The industrial base is concentrated in Newbury Park and Simi Valley. In both areas, vacant and available space declined sharply during the year.

In the West County, vacancy fell to 6.4 percent. Nearly half of the industrial base of 35 million square feet is located in Oxnard. The western region of the County has undergone substantial new industrial development. Over 4 million square feet was built collectively during the 1998-2000 period. For this 3 year period, the total value of industrial construction was the highest in the history of Ventura County.

There has been significant development of new industrial space in Oxnard and Camarillo over the last 3 years. However, absorption has been prolific. Even speculative projects have filled relatively quickly. Large users and expansions of existing users have driven the industrial market in Oxnard.

An estimated 2.57 million square feet of new industrial space was completed in calendar 2000 in Oxnard and Camarillo. Yet absorption was estimated at 2.75 million during the year. Consequently, vacancy fell sharply in both Camarillo and Oxnard. Industrial vacancy fell sharply in both Camarillo and Oxnard. Industrial vacancy in the entire County of Ventura finished the year at 7.1 percent - an all time record low.

The retail market is very strong in Ventura County. The vacancy rate on 7.0 million square feet in Western Ventura County was 7.3 percent at the end of calendar 2000. In the East County, the vacancy rate was estimated at 4.8 percent. The largest retail markets are Simi Valley and Oxnard, which together, account for 45 percent of the retail base in Ventura County.

Vacancy in Moorpark is currently estimated at 1.0 percent, Thousand Oaks at 6.0 percent, Ventura at 2.9 percent, Oxnard at 8.2 percent, and Camarillo at 8.7 percent. No market in the County exceeds a one digit vacancy rate. Click on graph to see a larger image.

Editors Note: The vacancy rate survey is conducted quarterly by UCSB Quarterly Report for the eastern and western cities of Ventura County. All the commercial vacancy data presented here was provided by UCSB Quarterly Report.

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