As of October, the office transaction volume reached $42.6 billion, with properties selling at an average sale price of $191 per square foot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nElevated vacancies continue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Year-to-date through October, the national office vacancy rate stood at 18.6 percent\u2014down 90 basis points year-over-year and unchanged from the previous month. As most U.S. companies still favor remote work, even with the rate declining every year since its peak in 2021, a full return to the office appears unlikely. Work patterns vary across the top 25 U.S. markets. For context, Austin, Texas, had 23.2 percent of its employees working from home last year, while Manhattan had only 11.8 percent. Even if both markets recorded a similar share of office-using jobs, Austin supports remote work options more easily due to its tech-oriented work landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Office markets with elevated vacancies include Seattle (27.4 percent), Austin (26.9 percent) and San Francisco (26.1 percent). In contrast, the lowest vacancies across the top 25 U.S. markets were recorded in Manhattan (13 percent) and Miami (13.4 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n