Top U.S. Markets for Investment in 2025: Manhattan, N.Y., & Washington, D.C. Share Spotlight

Key Takeaways:

• Manhattan, N.Y., topped the national ranking for highest sales total and highest sale price, while neighboring Brooklyn, N.Y., office space was the third-most expensive per square foot last year.
• Washington, D.C. saw the largest volume of office space change hands and recorded the highest number of transactions.
• Chicago was one of the busiest investment markets last year with the second-highest number of deals closed and the second-most office space changing hands.
• Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex were among the most active in terms of the number of sales closed and the amount of square footage traded.
• San Francisco and the Bay Area remained some of the priciest markets in the country last year and tallied some of the highest office sales totals in 2025.
• Miami stood out for some of the highest office sale prices per square foot commanded last year.

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.

Jumping across the country once again, San Francisco was the fourth-best among U.S. office markets in terms of sales after totaling more than $4.1 billion last year throughout the city, as well as the wider San Francisco area submarkets. In this case, a two-story office building in Menlo Park, Calif., changed hands in December in what was the largest 2025 office sale in the San Francisco market. Los Altos-based developer Four Corners Properties acquired the site at 1540 El Camino Real in 2019 and developed the trophy office asset that sold for $103.75 million last year.

Not to be outdone, more than $3.8 billion in office space changed hands in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex last year for the fifth-largest yearly sales total among U.S. office markets in 2025. Here, the standout office sale to close last year saw The Link Uptown change owners in what was reportedly a record deal for the market in 2025. Selling for $218 million, the recently completed, class AA office tower at 2601 Olive St. incorporates more than 290,000 square feet of rentable, premium Dallas office space and was more than 90% leased at the time of sale.

Top Markets by Office Sale Price per Square Foot in 2025

Manhattan, N.Y., topped the list of priciest office markets last year with office assets in the Big Apple changing hands for an average of $496.30 per square foot, which made Manhattan office space the most expensive in the country in 2025. One property, in particular, commanded the spotlight with the highest price per square foot in the market last year: The 31,000-square-foot office and retail building at 165 Mercer St. in SoHo sold to Spear Street Capital for $40 million, which came down to $1,290 per square foot.

Following in second place, office space in San Francisco was the only other investment destination to claim sale prices higher than $400 per square foot, on average, last year. Specifically, properties in the city and across the surrounding submarkets changed hands for an average of nearly $402 per square foot in 2025. Here again, the property at 1540 El Camino Real in Menlo Park, Calif., also had the highest sale price — an impressive $2,272 per square foot in what has consistently been one of the most expensive office submarkets in the U.S.

The second New York market to climb among the priciest for sales, Brooklyn’s office space was the third-most expensive in the country in 2025 as transactions closed here averaged roughly $384 per square foot. To that end, in December, the four-story office building at 205 Montague St. in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood changed hands for $140.5 million, which worked out to nearly $1,848 per square foot and made it the priciest asset to trade in the market last year. However, the real prize of this acquisition was the land, where the joint venture of Landau Properties, Third Millennium Group, and Midtown Equities had long-standing plans to build a 47-story, mixed-use project of condo units, rental apartments, and retail space.

 

Next up, Miami office space commanded an average sale price of nearly $356 per square foot last year, making it the fourth-most-expensive office market in the U.S. in 2025. The Florida market’s priciest office asset of the year traded in November, when JPMorganChase bought back its retail banking branch in Miami Beach. The finance company paid $23.5 million for the 25,030-square-foot office and retail building at 1801 Alton Road, which was a significant mark-up from the $4 million that Chase had paid for the property back in 2010. At $939 per square foot, it was Miami’s most expensive office asset of the year in 2025.

Wrapping up the top five most expensive office markets in the country last year was the Bay Area in California, where office space sold for an average of $354 per square foot in 2025. In this case, it was Palo Alto, Calif., that was home to the highest-priced office square footage last year: In August, First Citizens Bank & Trust Company paid $82 million for the 41,428-square-foot corner building at 250 University Ave. — a $1,979-per-square-foot sale that was the priciest in this market in 2025.

Top Markets by Total Office Space Traded in 2025

Nearly 27.4 million square feet of Washington, D.C. office space changed hands in 2025, which was the highest single-market volume of space traded in the county last year. The largest property to change hands here was the office tower at 1000 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, Va. The property incorporates 597,364 square feet and was sold by Goldman Sachs Asset Management as part of a portfolio.

Meanwhile, the largest office market in the Midwest was a close second in this respect as roughly 27.3 million square feet of Chicago office space was sold last year. The city’s massive Montgomery Ward building, incorporating 1.65 million square feet, was the largest in the market to change hands last year. In fact, the historic landmark was reportedly the largest property to sell here since 2018.

Otherwise, Houston was the only other market to see more than 20 million square feet of office space change hands last year. With transactions here exchanging 25.2 million square feet in assets, the South Texas market landed third for office space volume sold in 2025. Coming in at nearly 1.25 million square feet of central business district Houston office space, the Fulbright Tower (3 Houston Center) at 1301 Mckinney St. was the largest office property to sell here last year. The building changed hands as part of a portfolio deal that saw the entire Houston Center complex revert to lender — a joint venture between pension fund AustralianSuper and Stream Realty.

Next, sales closed last year in the Dallas–Fort Worth market totaled nearly 17.7 million square feet of office space — the fourth-largest office volume to sell in one market last year. More precisely, the One Main Place high-rise at 1201 Main St., which incorporates a little more than 1 million square feet, was the largest asset to change hands here in 2025 as it was sold by New Orleans-based KFK Group after more than a decade of ownership.

Then, sales of office space in Atlanta were not far behind Dallas as transactions here totaled roughly 17 million square feet of office space last year — the fifth-largest volume of square footage to change hands in one market in 2025. Paces West, one of metro Atlanta’s largest office complexes at 646,471 square feet, was the largest office property to sell here last year. Following the departure of major tenant Piedmont Healthcare, the property was acquired at a significant markdown from its previous sale price by Insignia, which plans to rebrand the property.

Top Markets by Office Sales Activity in 2025

Each of the five most active markets that we tracked in terms of investment saw more than 100 office sales close last year. In this respect, Washington, D.C. had the most active sales market with 173 transactions closing in 2025. Chicago, with 169 office sales, was the second-most active destination for investment last year.

Finally, two Texas markets followed in third and fourth places, respectively: Houston saw 136 transactions close last year, followed closely by DFW with 133 office sales closed. Rounding out the top five was the Bay Area in California, where 129 office sales closed last year.

Methodology

For the purposes of this market analysis, we focused on office sales that were at least 25,000 square feet in size and that closed from January through December 2025 in markets that had more than 10 sale transactions.

We took into consideration only the transactions for which the individual property sale price was available. As such, some markets with non-disclosure policies may not have been included in this analysis. Properties that were sold as part of a portfolio transaction were only considered if there was individual property sale price data available for each.

The analysis is based on Yardi Research data that was pulled in April 2026. Market boundaries coincide with markets defined in the CommercialCafe Markets Map and may differ from regional boundaries defined by other sources.

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