Across the board, the biggest concern for brokers next year is the ever-decreasing amount of developable land for new product countywide. Instead, infill projects that reuse the land will dominate the landscape, offering new sales and lease opportunities for brokers to capitalize on. Still, the competition for those spaces will be intense, with rents continuing their upswing and vacancy rates remaining low.

In the office sector, Jack McNutt, a SVP based in the Newport Beach office, believes the lull in the market of the past 30 days will dissipate, with things returning to normal after the first of the year. "The market will continue. It won't be robust, but it will continue to clip along nicely," he says.

Although nearly five million sf of office and flex-tech space was built this year, the supply of quality class A product was hard to find. Next year won't be any better as four million sf of product comes on line, with biotechnology, Internet-based companies, financial services, telecommunications and other traditional and high-tech companies competing to absorb the space at a brisk pace. Class A will be hard to find in the area surrounding John Wayne Airport, the most expensive area in the county, followed by the south county area. Grubb & Ellis' recommendation: tenants should lock in lease rates for the long term.