Atlanta Breaks into Top 5 U.S. Office Markets With 17M Sq. Ft. Traded in 2025

CommercialCafe

Tuesday, May 12th, 2026

A summary of the most significant insights:

  • Atlanta ranked among the top U.S. markets for the roughly 17 million square feet of office space changing hands here in 2025, which placed the market fifth nationally.
  • The largest property to sell in the Atlanta market was Paces West, a 646,471-square-foot office complex that traded following a major tenant departure.

Office sales in the U.S. in 2025 exceeded $53 billion with transactions across the country averaging $192 per square foot. Although the total dollar volume still lagged behind peaks seen in office sales boom years, the sale price per square foot had been steadily climbing. Clearly, office assets in the U.S. have remained attractive to investors, even though the appeal is more concentrated in the top-tier segments of the national office stock.

As the flight-to-quality movement continues to shape acquisition strategies across the country, we looked at Yardi Research data for office sales recorded last year and compared markets based on total sales, price per square foot, sales activity, and the amount of square footage that changed hands in each. Below, we ranked the top echelon of U.S. markets that were the top destinations for investment in 2025 for each of those indicators.

Top Markets by Total Office Sales in 2025

Manhattan, N.Y., office sales added up to roughly $7.8 billion last year. Notably, the market’s largest office deal to close in 2025 accounted for nearly 14% of the yearly total: The 42-story, class A skyscraper at 590 Madison Ave. changed hands for approximately $1.1 billion, which reportedly marked Manhattan’s largest office acquisition in more than three years.

On the opposite coast, office sales closed in California’s Bay Area totaled $5.2 billion in 2025 for the second-largest sales total in the country last year. Specifically, PG&E bought its headquarters building in downtown Oakland, Calif., in 2025 in what was the Bay Area market’s largest office sale of the year. Closed in three tranches, the $906 million acquisition of 300 Lakeside Drive accounted for roughly 17% of the year’s sales total in the Bay Area and consolidated the company’s presence in the market.

Back east, Washington, D.C. office property transactions last year added up to nearly $4.8 billion. Here, the highlight of the year was the sale of the Edison Place building at 701 Ninth St. NW, which made for the largest office sale in the market in 2025. Exelon reportedly paid $175 million for the property, which incorporates 350,000 square feet of rentable, LEED Gold-certified office space in downtown Washington, D.C. The seller, Brookfield Properties, acquired the building 21 years prior for a little less than $170 million.

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