Every New Year begs a time for reflection, to account for what has transpired and to plan for the future. Looking back on 2014, it is important to review the three major property types across four of Southern California’s prominent markets to note any market trends. Below are tables summarizing the average price per square foot of office, retail, and industrial properties across San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire – including Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Office

The San Diego office market continues to modestly improve, as evidenced by modest gains over the last three years.

Based on the data presented in the Office table, the Orange County office market has remained relatively stable, with even a slight decrease in the average price per square foot compared to a year ago. Due to the overall economy improving, this particular segment should continue to stabilize and improve as well.

The Los Angeles office market has made considerable gains with the average price per square foot increasing by over 60% over the last three years. While this is a just a single price point in a given quarter, it nonetheless shows that this market is improving.

As evidenced above, the Inland Empire office market has made the greatest recovery of the four markets over the last three years.

Retail

As has been previously demonstrated, the San Diego retail market continues to be in a period of stabilization that is evidenced by only a 3% increase in the average price per square foot over the last three years.

Both the Orange County and Los Angeles retail sectors have had siginficant increases in the average price per square foot over the last three years.

The Inland Empire retail market was generally stable 2 to 3 years ago, but appears to be improving based on a 10% increase in the average price per square foot from one year ago to the present.

Industrial

The industrial sector across all four markets has made modest gains over the past three years, with the Orange County market making the greatest recovery.

The San Diego and Inland Empire industrial markets have improved modestly over the past year and are forecasted to steadily increase in 2015. The average price per square foot of Orange County industrial property has decreased slightly over the past year, but note the overall economy is improving in this market. This coupled with the fact that the Orange County industrial market has one of the lowest vacancy rates in the region indicates that this sector will also continue to steadily improve.

The Los Angeles industrial market remained relatively stable until a year ago when the average price per sqaure foot increased by almost 12%. This sector of the Los Angeles market is expected to continue to improve in the near future.

Summary

Overall, the Southern California region has generally improved at a modest pace over the last three years, with only a few sectors continuing to be in a period of stabilization (namely the Orange County office market and the San Diego retail market). With the economy continuing to improve, market conditions in the region are expected to be favorable going into 2015.

Sources:
IRR San Diego