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ORANGE COUNTY, CA—Estimated job growth for Orange County through the rest of 2014 is expected to be greatest in the construction sector, according to a mid-quarter report from Voit Real Estate Services. GlobeSt.com spoke with Jerry Holdner, VP of market research for Voit, to discuss the employment picture and why construction is at the forefront of that growth.
GlobeSt.com: What are the key takeaways from your mid-quarter report about Orange County employment?
Holdner: Unemployment has come down significantly since the last cycle. It is recovering, but what's really nice about this recovery is how it's spread out among lots of different sectors. Right now, construction is one of the biggest.
GlobeSt.com: Why is construction at the forefront of that growth?
Holdner: There were a lot of empty buildings after the recession, so there weren't that many being constructed. Now, a bunch of projects have started, therefore there are a lot of new jobs. Percentagewise, that looks good. But the real sector to lead Orange County in the near future is the professional-business sector. There will be more employment in higher-educated workers as businesses get better going forward. I see this continuing through about 2018—most cycles last so many years, so that's about as far out as we can predict. The fundamentals are all in place, and I think this will be a longer-than-normal cycle of recovery before it begins to drop off.
GlobeSt.com: What does this mean for the development sector of commercial real estate here?
Holdner: The most construction we've seen thus far has been condos and apartments. We're starting to see some office construction, i.e., the Irvine Co.'s new tower and some other things on the drawing board for class-A office construction. I've recently been talking to a lot of developers over the last 12 months, and a lot of projects are being considered. All of that has to happen before buildings start getting built. There's a retail project down in San Clemente called Plaza San Clemente and Pacific City in Huntington Beach. There are also some industrial buildings being built in the Placentia/Anaheim area.
GlobeSt.com: What other trends are you noticing here?
Holdner: There are no sectors losing jobs right now, which is nice.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
