IRVINE, CA-High demand for class-A space has driven office vacancy rates in Orange County down into the single digits and is spurring significant growth in asking rents, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Most of this growth has been amid high-quality space, however, and landlords in many areas are remaining aggressive in their efforts to fill class-B office space.

Not all of the regions, however, are experiencing difficulty renting class-B space, JLL's research shows. In fact, North County's rental growth has been driven by class-B properties, which have seen vacancy tumble from a peak of 19.4% in 2010 to 13.7% as of first-quarter 2013.

Some of the hottest class-A office submarkets in the county include Seal Beach, Mission Viejo, Irvine Spectrum, the Civic Center area, the Main Place area, Cypress, the City area and Santa Ana. Twelve-month rent growth for these areas ranges from 7.4% to 1.1%, respectively.

GlobeSt.com was unable to reach JLL prior to deadline to discuss how this trend will play out during the second half of 2013 and into 2014, but will add updated information as it becomes available.

As GlobeSt.com reported last month, in addition to the office sector, Other Orange County sectors are seeing positive rent growth. Jerry Holdner, Jr., VP of market research for Voit Real Estate Services, told GlobeSt.com that vacant retail space in the county decreased from fourth-quarter 2012 and saw nearly 70,000 square feet of positive net absorption for the first quarter of this year. He added, “Rent growth has begun as well; we're expecting rent growth of about 3.9% for 2013 and 5.1% in 2014.”