REAL ESTATE

The commercial real estate brokerages that keep track of such things say construction of commercial buildings is down slightly these days as the county absorbs the enormous amount of office space built in the last few years.

That’s borne out by F.W. Dodge Group, which keeps track of building contracts around the country, an indicator of future construction.

In Orange County, Dodge said recently, the value of contracts for non-residential construction--which also includes public buildings, churches and other non-commercial structures--dropped 13% through May, to $479 million.

That’s down from $550 million last year.

While that’s not good news for the local construction industry, it’s heartening to people who have already built office buildings and been contending with vacancy rates in the low 20% range for several years.

Contracts for residential construction took an even deeper dip this year, Dodge reported. Housing contracts were down 36% so far this year, to $597 million from $934 million last year.