The greater Seattle office market is one of the tightest in the country, says JLL in its Q2 2016 report. Tech tenants drove leasing during the quarter, accounting for 73.6% of major leasing activity. Total vacancy declined to 8.8%, which makes Seattle the fifth-tightest market in the country, behind Nashville, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Portland, explains JLL research guru Alex Muir (right), shown here with JLL brokers Danny Seger and Joe Gowan.

Bellevue remains one of the hotter submarkets. With a strong live/work/play culture and proximity to influential companies such as Microsoft, tech and traditional businesses alike are able to attract strong talent and thrive in the Bellevue area, says Alex. The "Skyline" building set—the tallest buildings in the market, according to JLL—in particular has benefited from the flight-to-quality trend in recent years, both in Bellevue and Seattle.