GlobeSt.com: What has helped this market move to a top-tier market in your office-momentum index?

Bach: Demographic and economic data, which account for half of a market's score, tend to change slowly, so it's the office market itself—the market dynamics—that pushed OC into the top 10. OC's vacancy rate is down by more than a percentage point in the past four quarters, rent is up by 8.6% and leasing activity in the past four quarters equates to 10.4% of total inventory, so all the deal-making is driving tighter fundamentals.

GlobeSt.com: What gives Orange County an edge over other office markets?

Bach: Technology; smaller, fast-growing companies comprising its employment base; quality of life (of course); and higher barriers to entry compared with fast-growth markets in the Southwest and Southeast.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about your office momentum index?

Bach: A fancy name for it is multi-criteria decision analysis, which site selectors use to identify promising markets for corporate clients looking to relocate or expand. We use the same techniques to identify promising markets for developers and investors who are interested in exploring new markets or comparing one market against another. It's a good way to screen markets from a 30,000-foot view, letting us select the most promising candidates for more detailed analysis and exploration.

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IRVINE, CA—Demographic and economic data, which account for half of a market's office-momentum score, tend to change slowly, so it's the market dynamics that pushed Orange County into the top 10, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's director of research—Americas Robert Bach tells GlobeSt.com. According to a recent Q1 office-momentum index from the firm, seven of the top-10 markets in Q4 2016 remained at the top in Q1 2017: Austin, Dallas, Orlando, Oakland-East Bay, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham and Seattle. New to the top tier in the first quarter are Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Orange County, which replaced Nashville, Salt Lake City and Broward County.

We spoke with Bach about Orange County's new status among office markets and what has propelled it into the top 10 for office momentum.

GlobeSt.com: How does Orange County's office market compare to other markets in terms of momentum?

Bach: OC ranks number 10 out of 56 office markets in metro areas with at least 1 million residents. That's up from number 17 when we did this exercise in January using fourth-quarter data.

GlobeSt.com: What has helped this market move to a top-tier market in your office-momentum index?

Bach: Demographic and economic data, which account for half of a market's score, tend to change slowly, so it's the office market itself—the market dynamics—that pushed OC into the top 10. OC's vacancy rate is down by more than a percentage point in the past four quarters, rent is up by 8.6% and leasing activity in the past four quarters equates to 10.4% of total inventory, so all the deal-making is driving tighter fundamentals.

GlobeSt.com: What gives Orange County an edge over other office markets?

Bach: Technology; smaller, fast-growing companies comprising its employment base; quality of life (of course); and higher barriers to entry compared with fast-growth markets in the Southwest and Southeast.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about your office momentum index?

Bach: A fancy name for it is multi-criteria decision analysis, which site selectors use to identify promising markets for corporate clients looking to relocate or expand. We use the same techniques to identify promising markets for developers and investors who are interested in exploring new markets or comparing one market against another. It's a good way to screen markets from a 30,000-foot view, letting us select the most promising candidates for more detailed analysis and exploration.