Rents in Los Angeles County office buildings will continue to rise during the next few years as businesses expand and take empty space off the market, according to a UCLA survey of real estate professionals to be released today, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The cost of leasing office space varies a great deal from neighborhood to neighborhood, but in 2006 the overall average price was up 4.7%. The annual rate of increase should be even higher in the years ahead, the forecast said.

“Our panel believes the demand will grow faster than the supply all the way through 2010,” said UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg, who conducted the survey through the university’s Anderson School of Management with law firm Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis.

The current boom in office construction will not be enough to cause a glut of space on the market, which augurs well for those who own buildings or are putting up new ones, the report said.

Overall vacancy was a little over 10% last quarter, according to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

Read the full L.A. Times story

.(registration required)