U.S. Office Leasing Volume Lags Historical Norm Despite Recent Recovery
Business Wire•09/10/2026•09:00 ET
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Key Highlights
- ➤Office leasing averaged 105 million square feet over the past four quarters
- ➤Leasing volume remains roughly 10 million square feet below 2015-19 average
- ➤San Francisco leasing rebounded beyond pre-pandemic level amid AI-driven tech demand
- ➤Elevated construction and financing costs are stifling office construction activity
- ➤New York, Nashville, and Miami also report elevated leasing volume
Expert Statements
Phil Mobley, National director of office analytics at CoStar Group
“Earlier in the decade, many large occupiers consolidated into smaller footprints in response to post-pandemic ways of working, which may have been the dominant factor in bringing down average lease transaction sizes.”
Phil Mobley, National director of office analytics at CoStar Group
“Since then, per-worker space requirements have stabilized.”
Phil Mobley, National director of office analytics at CoStar Group
“However, elevated construction and financing costs have stifled construction activity, and renovations remain unusually slow, which means that major occupiers seeking to relocate to updated space have relatively few options.”
U.S. Office Leasing Volume Lags Historical Norm Despite Recent Recovery
U.S. office leasing has rebounded substantially over the past year, but demand and supply issues are making it difficult for volume to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to data from CoStar , the leading global provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets.
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