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Investor interest in the office asset class gained momentum in the first half of the year.
Office sales hit $25.9B in the first half of 2025, up 42% year-over-year, according to a JLL client report cited by CNBC. JLL’s office sale transactions outpaced all other major property types, with volume up 110% from the first half of 2024, according to CNBC.
Investors bid $16B for office buildings in the second quarter, the highest quarterly total since Q2 2022, CNBC reported.
In Q3, investors shifted from “office curious” to “office serious,” especially as interest rates retreated, according to CNBC. A combination of shrinking supply of new office development, the conversion of older properties for other uses, and workers reporting back for in-office work is prompting investors to bet on office again.
“What typically happens is, after a downturn, the high net worth private capital comes back in because of opportunistic returns, and they start buying,” JLL Senior Managing Director Mike McDonald told CNBC. “The REITs follow, and then the institutional capital flows.”
Deals valued at $100M or more jumped 130% year-over-year in the first half of 2025 as investors chased higher-quality office buildings amid more available debt, according to CNBC. In a separate Q2 report, JLL said 34 trades at $100M or more occurred in the first six months of the year. Those sales totaled $7.6B. The same period last year only saw 15 sales at that level, comprising $3.4B.
The U.S. office market posted negative net absorption of 2M SF in Q2, which is less than a third of the negative net absorption of 7M SF in Q1, according to JLL. New York City and Sun Belt markets saw positive absorption in Q2.
“Private sector employers are continuing to quietly increase their office attendance requirements, and most Fortune 100 employees now work at companies with full five-day in-office attendance policies,” JLL researchers said in the report.
However, it remains to be seen whether in-office attendance rates will continue to climb. Work Forward, which researches workplace trends, found that employers are demanding 12% more in-office attendance than in 2024, according to a CRE Daily report. Despite this, the rate of days worked from home remains identical to the rate in 2023.
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