Mortgage Lenders Reemerge in OC

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ORANGE COUNTY, CA-Mortgage lending companies are increasing their presence in Orange County, raising the question of how vulnerable the office sector is to another mortgage bubble in the future, reports Jones Lang LaSalle. Through most of the 2000s, up until the housing crisis in 2007-2008, mortgage lenders abounded in the Orange County office-tenant market, which is why the crash was especially hard on this market.

However, the office sector is much less exposed to the volatile industry than it was at its peak, JLL reports. Since the housing collapse of 2007, the market has undergone a prolonged recovery that has seen technology and healthcare-related companies lead a much more diverse economy. The recent return of mortgage-lending companies to the market in response to low interest rates and refinancing activity does not begin to match the levels reached before the collapse, which should assuage fears over another catastrophic collapse to be felt by the Orange County office sector.

While this doesn't mean the market isn't vulnerable, it appears that any potential retractions in the mortgage lending industry will be less severe on the office sector than the previous cycle, according to JLL.

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