[[{“value”:”
The Puget Sound office market opened 2026 with a measurable pickup in leasing demand, according to a recent report from Savills. The firm noted that office leasing activity across Seattle and the broader Puget Sound region reached 2,100,000 square feet, an increase from 1,800,000 square feet recorded during the same period a year earlier.
Improved leasing volumes have begun to translate into a tighter supply backdrop. Overall availability across the market declined by 270 basis points year over year to 27.1 percent, the lowest level reported since late 2024. Savills attributed this compression primarily to improving conditions in core office submarkets.
Within Seattle s central business district, availability fell to 33.2 percent, marking that submarket s lowest rate in more than a year. A similar trend emerged in the Bellevue central business district, where availability dropped to 25.3 percent, also reaching its lowest point in over 12 months. These shifts indicate that demand is concentrating in the region s most established CBD locations even as overall availability remains elevated by historical standards.
Leasing activity in early 2026 was led by larger transactions, with a handful of blue chip technology occupiers driving much of the volume. The report highlighted Microsoft Corporation s renewal of 352,439 square feet at Redmond Town Center as the largest single deal completed in the period. Additional expansions in Bellevue contributed to the region s stronger performance.
Among those expansions, OpenAI committed to 247,487 square feet, while Snap Inc. expanded its footprint by 40,024 square feet. These moves underpin continued demand from major technology and AI related tenants in key Puget Sound submarkets, particularly in Bellevue and nearby nodes that cater to large corporate users.
Rental metrics also moved modestly higher alongside the firming in demand. Average asking rents across the Puget Sound office market increased 0.8 percent year over year to 45.78 dollars per square foot. Class A product outperformed the broader market, with average asking rents rising 1.8 percent to 51.52 dollars per square foot.
Pricing differentials between submarkets remained pronounced. Bellevue s central business district continued to command the highest average asking rents in the region at 63.16 dollars per square foot. Seattle s CBD followed at 48.09 dollars per square foot, reflecting the premium investors and occupiers continue to place on well located, high quality space in core urban employment centers.
Taken together, the increase in large tenant commitments, declining availability in the CBDs and modest rent growth suggest that the Puget Sound office sector is entering 2026 on firmer footing than a year earlier, even as the market continues to work through elevated vacancy and a shifting occupier base.
The post Seattle and Puget Sound Office Market Kicks Off 2026 With Stronger Leasing Momentum appeared first on CRE Market Beat.
“}]]
