(The Center Square) – Seattle’s office vacancy rates at the end of 2025 reached record highs – some 35% – but the rate of increase is slowing, suggesting the market is stabilizing.
Based on a recent report by the real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, the downtown Seattle office market experienced a record high overall vacancy rate of 35.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 3.3% increase from 2024.
According to the report, the increase in vacancy rates is driven by tech company cutbacks and high-quality Class A buildings losing tenants, leading to 2.3 million square feet of space being vacated in 2025.
The Seattle tech sector is experiencing a significant wave of layoffs, driven by companies restructuring for Artificial Intelligence, or AI, marking a shift from pandemic-era hiring sprees to a focus on automation and efficiency.
Earlier this year, Seattle-based Amazon announced it is laying off 1,600 corporate employees globally, including some 2,200 in the Seattle area. Expedia Group, the Seattle-based travel technology company, plans to lay off 162 employees. Meta – the multinational technology conglomerate and parent company of Facebook – intends to lay off 331 employees across the greater Seattle area.
CBRE Group Inc., the world’s largest commercial real estate and investment firm, reported much the same in terms of Seattle’s office vacancy rates.
According to CBRE’s data for the fourth quarter of 2025, the downtown Seattle office vacancy rate hit a record high of 34.7% at the end of last year.
“Downtown Seattle’s office vacancy rate is too high, and it reflects the lasting impacts of remote work and tech-sector contraction,” Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes said.
Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Joe Nguyen had similar thoughts.
“A downtown office vacancy rate above 35% is still a real challenge,” he said.
There was some good news in the end-of-year figures.
Despite rising vacancies, the average asking rent actually saw a 1.3% year-over-year increase, reaching $47.62 per square foot, according to the Cushman & Wakefield report.
CBRE’s report noted that more office space was leased than was vacated during the last three months of 2025, with a net of 76,321 square feet of newly occupied space.
This is the first positive result in more than three years. Since early 2021, the market has been shrinking – that is, more companies were dumping space than taking it.
Despite high vacancies, Class A direct asking rates for the Puget Sound area stayed relatively stable, ending 2025 at $51.35 per square foot.
Both Nguyen and Scholes think better times are ahead for the Emerald City.
“But there are still positive signs within the market,” Scholes said. “While vacancy ticked up at the end of the year, we’ve seen several notable lease renewals and commitments recently, including JPMorgan Chase, Slalom and law firms Stoel Rives LLP and Foster Garvey, to name a few.”
Nguyen agreed.
“But the pace of increase is slowing,” he said, “and that’s a meaningful signal we may be getting closer to the bottom of this cycle, not the peak.”
Nguyen continued: “This is the moment to act. Revitalize downtown, support small businesses, attract employers, and rethink how space gets used so people return and energy follows. That only happens through real partnership between business and political leaders, aligned around outcomes and willingness to move with urgency.”
Scholes cautioned, however, that a speedy recovery is not in the cards.
“This is not a quick rebound, but it’s also not a permanent decline,” he said. “The fundamentals that make downtown Seattle the economic engine of our region – talent, innovation, transit access and walkability – remain strong. The focus now must be on continuing to support business growth and create the conditions that help fill empty office space and strengthen the city’s tax base.”
That partnership between business and political leaders will be crucial, according to Nguyen, a former state senator.
“Our economy only works if the whole system is moving together,” he said. “Seattle doesn’t wait for a comeback, we build it.”
