Atlanta landed six of the largest office leases in the U.S. in 2022, according to a new report from CBRE.

Totaling approximately 1.4 million sq. ft., the six leases were enough to rank Atlanta eighth on this year’s list, ahead of primary office markets like Los Angeles and Boston. Last year, Atlanta tied Chicago for ninth on CBRE’s annual list of top 100 U.S. office leases with three, totaling approximately 1.1 million sq. ft. This year’s top leases in Atlanta ranged from approximately 260,000 sq. ft. to 180,000 sq. ft. and occurred in submarkets like Midtown, West Midtown, Buckhead and Cumberland/Galleria. 

Nationally, tech companies made up a majority of the top 100 U.S. office leases in 2021, but the industry fell to second in this year’s report. Finance and insurance companies claimed 25 of the largest 100 office leases of 2022 by square footage, up from 12 in 2021. Tech companies accounted for 17 of the largest 100 leases, a decline of more than half from the 36 that tech notched in 2021. Tech has long been the leader in U.S. office leasing; CBRE only started tracking the 100 largest office leases in 2020, but tech led in overall U.S. office-leasing activity from 2013 until last year.

Atlanta has seen similar trends. In 2021, tech companies accounted for two of the metro’s three largest office leases in Atlanta. Last year’s top deals included only one lease by a tech firm. Atlanta’s other top deals were signed by companies in industries like telecom, banking, packaging and marketing.  

“Atlanta benefits from a diverse economy where numerous industries see value in having operations here. This is evident by the top office leasing transactions of 2022,” said Ellen Stern, Senior Vice President with CBRE. “So long as our city continues to be the heartbeat of the Southeastern economy with a low cost of doing business and access to a deep labor pool, we will continue to see a diverse tenant mix in our office market.”

Other industries that expanded their share of the largest 100 leases last year, beyond finance and insurance, include business and professional services (eight leases in 2022), creative industries (five), retail trade (seven), energy (five) and manufacturing and transportation (five). Those that registered fewer of the top leases in 2022 than in 2021, in addition to tech, include government and nonprofits (nine), life sciences (four) and legal (four).

“The inclusion of a wide range of industries among the largest 100 office leases shows that the office remains a cornerstone of hybrid work for many professions,” said Whitley Collins, CBRE Global President of Occupier Advisory & Transaction Services. “The probability of a recession will slow leasing in the short term. But, in the longer term, the need to provide offices that support the future of work will continue to drive leasing activity.”

Markets With Largest of the Large Office Leases of 2022

The percentage of the largest 100 that were new leases declined to 53% in 2022 from 61% in 2021. That might be due to large companies avoiding the higher interest rates and construction costs of a move by instead staying put and renewing their expiring leases.

To read the full report, click here.