A ready supply of available space and decreasing asking rates could make the Santa Clarita Valley office market more attractive to tenants.

“Larger blocks are available in the newer assets and I think we’ll see improvement over the next 12 months as more lease transactions occur,” said Ryan House, a vice president with Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

Lease activity was slow in the opening period, with only two deals recorded. House said he expected a couple more 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot deals to close early in the second quarter, including a deal by the State Board of Equalization.

Asking rates dropped precipitously to $2.27 in the first quarter from $2.40 in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, that’s a correction for a market that was one-quarter vacant for years; slashing prices might attract tenants looking to save on rents.

The vacancy rate stayed below 20 percent for the second consecutive quarter, ticking up slightly to 17 percent from 16.4 percent at year’s end. A 103,517-square-foot building is slated to come on line in the second quarter, adding to available square footage.

More than 16,000 square feet came back on the market in the first quarter, due in part to Ascent Media’s decision not to renew at Tourney Point, leaving between 20,000 to 25,000 square feet vacant.

“Large corporations are still in the right-sizing mode and they may be downsizing a little bit more here or there,” House noted.

It’s a different picture on the industrial side, where low vacancy and rising asking rates indicate a recovery.

“We’re seeing vacancy dropping significantly from the 7 percent range last year to 1.5 percent now, and lease rates are up 10 to 15 percent in the first quarter. That’s a huge jump,” said Craig Peters, an executive vice president at CBRE Group Inc.

Average asking rates for the North L.A. industrial market, which includes the Santa Clarita Valley, are 56 cents a square foot, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

The most active tenants are in entertainment and aerospace, which has been a factor in the market since Lockheed built its test facility in the late 1950s.

Nine television shows are set in the area, and the sector is expected to grow further as the Disney ABC Studios at the Ranch project progresses.

“That’s going to lead to another big surge in studio activity in the Santa Clarita Valley,” Peters predicted.

– Margot Carmichael Lester

Main Events

*A 15,446-square-foot, two-story Class C flex building at 26575 Ruether Ave. in Santa Clarita was sold by the Kennedy Trust to the Vosburg Family Trust for $1.9 million, or $123 a square foot.

*The 12,581-square-foot Class C flex building at 27717 Avenue Scott in Valencia sold for $1.4 million, or $118.83 a square foot. MSA LLC purchased the property from Machinery Properties LLC.

*The University of California system took 35,935 square feet at 27235 Tourney Road at Valencia’s Tourney Point. Ascent Media vacated between 20,000 and 25,000 square feet at 27200 Tourney Road.

*Executive office and conference space company Regus leased 14,379 square feet at 25360 Magic Mountain Parkway in Valencia for undisclosed terms.