Although layoffs at two of Ventura County's largest employers- Countrywide and Amgen- had little impact on local commercial real estate during the summer months, a sluggish housing market is expected to affect spender confidence this holiday season forcing retailers, especially momand-pop shops, to brace for a lean fourth quarter.

The downturn may mean higher vacancy rates in shopping centers throughout the county. That was the news from a panel of experts at real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, who gave a thirdquarter report from their Camarillo offices earlier this week.

A shrinking amount of undeveloped land, high construction costs and more businesses coming to the county from the San Fernando Valley and regions beyond continue to create tight markets in office, retail and industrial space.

The West County has remained strong in commercial real estate, while the Conejo Valley is quickly becoming an extension of the highpriced Los Angeles market.

Office property

"The market is really active right now," said Michael Slater, senior vice president of office properties. "There are a lot of tenants looking for space, both big and small, which is very exciting."

Slater said the summer saw massive portfolio sales by two of the county's largest property owners.

Moshe Silagi, owner of Thousand Oaksbased Silagi Development and Management, sold more than 3 million square feet of property throughout Southern California and Arizona to Orange County real estate firm The Muller Co., which partnered with General Electric Real Estate to co-finance the $460-million deal.

Westlake Plaza in Westlake Village and the Canwood Business Center in Agoura Hills were among the four Ventura County properties included in the transaction.

The General Electric-owned L.A. real estate firm Arden Realty sold six of its Ventura County properties to Florida-based CABI Developers for $235 million.

The largest single piece of property in the sale, which totaled 929,000 square feet, was the 283,000-square-foot Calabasas Tech Center. The 135,000square-foot Camarillo Business Center was also part of the massive sale.

The most significant single office sale in the county over the summer was New Yorkbased developers Tishman Speyer's sale of the 400,000-square-foot Baxter building in Westlake Village to Beverly Hills-based real estate firm Kennedy Wilson for $131 million.

Tishman bought the building last year for $92 million.

Slater said office building construction in Conejo Valley has been "rampant" at nearly 1.2 million square feet of new office space expected to be fully completed by the end of 2008.

Although the amount of new office space under construction is high, lease and sales rates also remain high- driven primarily by an influx of businesses looking to make Ventura County their home and the shrinking amount of available land.

"Land prices are going to continue to go up because we are running out of land," Slater said.

Slater said new businesses in the area are coming "from all over" and are primarily technology-based businesses, as well as venture capital and law firms and insurance companies.

Retail property

David Rush, senior vice president of retail properties, said sales and leasing of retail space throughout the county remains flat over the third quarter.

Even though there hasn't been much movement, Rush said the retail market is still tight as the West County's vacancy rate in the third quarter was 1.9 percent while the east county posted a 4.1 percent vacancy rate.

The big question, Rush said, will be how much the soft housing market will affect the local retail market. Smaller businesses may feel the pinch especially hard, he said, creating more vacancy in retail space countywide.

In Moorpark, the 68,000square-foot Tuscany Square will come on line in April 2008. The new shopping center will include a Walgreens, Rabobank, and a Fresh and Easy supermarket- one of a five new high-end stores British grocer giant Tesco plans to open in Ventura County.

Industrial property

"There were not a lot of lease or sales transactions in the last quarter," said Paul Farry, senior vice president of industrial properties.

In the West County, four of the seven significant lease deals for industrial space took place in Camarillo. The largest was a deal that moved four separate companies into the 64,000-square-foot Rexford Industrial Center off Lewis Road.

On the other side of the grade, there was only one large lease- a 46,000-square-foot building in Moorpark.

Camarillo again led the way in major sales for the West County with three of the four biggest deals- the most significant being the purchase of a 95,000squarefoot building on Camino Ruiz. It's now home to Golden State Medical Supplies, a prescription drug wholesale distributor.

The East County saw only one large sale- a 49,000-square-foot building in Thousand Oaks sold to Sacramento-based Panattoni Development for $7.2 million.

Farry said there are a handful of available large-scale industrial properties for lease that are affecting the overall market. Most notably is Technicolor's former 900,000 square-foot facility that was sold in July to Santa Monicabased Sandstone Properties.

Vacancy rates for industrial space in the county rose slightly in the third quarter to 7.5 percent.

Industrial space construction is at a standstill in the East County, while four of the five major construction projects for the West County are in Camarillo.

Farry attributes the slowdown in the industrial market to fewer lenders- still recouping from the housing downturn- willing to make loans on industrial property.