U.S. Office Market Outlook – June2026

As of May 2026, the national office vacancy rate reached 17.6 percent.

Read the latest Yardi Matrix Office Market Outlook.

Report highlights

• The national office vacancy rate reached 17.6 percent as of May—180 basis points lower over the past 12 months.
• The national full-service equivalent listing rate stood at $33.61 per square foot in May—down 1.4 percent year-over-year.
• The U.S. office pipeline totaled 28.7 million square feet, representing 0.4 percent of total stock.
• Office investment volume generated $23 billion, with properties selling for $213 per square foot on average.

San Francisco leads vacancy recovery

As of May, the national office vacancy rate reached 17.6 percent—180 basis points lower year-over-year. Manhattan recorded the lowest rate nationwide, at 13.1 percent, representing a 260-basis-point decrease over the past 12 months. Miami’s 13.2 percent followed.

San Francisco’s 23.3 percent rate represented the highest improvement nationwide at a 520-basis-point decrease year-over-year. The metro’s rate declined from the 29.3 percent peak recorded in January 2025. Office employment began to stabilize after several years of layoffs in the tech sector. Coupled with growing AI adoption, this helped stall San Francisco’s declining office employment and pushed down vacancy

The national full-service equivalent listing rate stood at $33.61 per square foot—up 70 cents from the previous month and 1.4 percent lower year-over-year. Manhattan remained the leader for office rents, with listing at $69.29 per square foot. San Francisco’s $62.11 per square foot followed.

Limited new supply supports sector rebalancing efforts

The national office pipeline included 28.7 million square feet underway as of May—accounting for 0.4 percent of existing stock.

Boston led the charts with 3.9 million square feet, followed by Manhattan’s 3.1 million square feet. Austin’s activity continued to place it among the metros with large pipeline, with 1.2 million square feet underway. The metro’s supply pipeline dropped by more than half over the past 12 months, while construction started on more than 600,000 square feet. Its shrinking pipeline should help rebalance Austin’s office fundamentals, but elevated supply will likely continue to pressure the metro.

The national office investment volume reached $23 billion year-to-date as of May. Investors closed 1,025 transactions, with properties trading at $213 per square foot on average. Manhattan led, with $3.7 billion in sales, followed by San Francisco’s $2.3 billion and the Bay Area’s $1.7 billion.

Portland recorded one of the lowest sales volumes across major markets, with $106 million in deals as of May. Since 2024, 53 percent of all office transactions in the metro sold at a discount compared to their previous trade.

Read the full Yardi Matrix Office Market Report: June 2026.