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ANAHEIM, CA-Office rental rates in Orange County are poised to match the previous record high that they hit in 2001 as the average rent rose for the sixth consecutive quarter during the period ended June 30, a new Voit Commercial report says. Industrial space did well too and is headed for its own previous record.Voit VP Jerry Holdner, chief of research for the firm, tells GlobeSt.com that the previous high mark for office rents was an average asking full-service gross lease rate of $2.26 per sf per month, which the county achieved in the first quarter of 2001. After the six-quarter recovery, the average asking rent was $2.19 at the end of the second quarter, which is a 9% increase over last year's first quarter rate of $2.01, Holdner points out. Besides matching the previous high mark, Holdner tells GlobeSt.com, he expects the county's office rents to set new average asking lease rates records in 2005.As might be expected with rising rents, the county posted quarterly net absorption of more than 1.2 million sf. During the past 12 quarters, the county has absorbed more than 8.8 million sf of office space, or an average of 733,333 sf per quarter for the past three years. Vacancy tightened in the office market during the second quarter too, dipping to 8.9%, compared with a rate of just under 11.7% at this time last year. With vacancies tightening, construction has increased, Holdner notes, with the total space under construction climbing to 1.5 million sf for the second quarter of 2005, which is almost four times what was under construction this same time last year. The total amount of office space available in Orange County, including both direct and sublease space, diminished to slightly more than 11.1% in the second quarter, compared with nearly 14.6% at the same time a year ago.Holdner reports that the county's industrial market performed well in the second quarter too, with average asking triple net lease rates rising to 61 cents per sf per month. The quarter ending June 30 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of positive lease rate growth for industrial space, which is edging toward its own previous record of 62 cents, set in the fourth quarter of 2000 and held through the first quarter of 2001. The average asking selling price rate of $120.66 per sf represented an increase of almost 27% when compared to a year ago and is already a record high for the county.Total industrial space under construction was just over 800,000 sf this quarter, compared with 300,000 sf under construction a year ago. Industrial vacancy registered at 4.33%, down 23.5% from a year ago. "This will put more pressure on lease rates to continue to climb," Holdner says, noting that the second quarter industrial availability of 6.12% was 25% lower than it was a year ago.