Dallas-Fort Worth Remains a Top-Tier Office Market

The Dallas-Fort Worth office sector continued to rank high among the nation’s leading markets, according to Yardi Matrix data.

On the development side, despite the contraction seen nationally in office building trends, The Metroplex maintained a larger pipeline than most gateway cities, with an out-of-stock share more than double the national average.

As for sales, the metro saw investor appetite surge following the strong momentum recorded a year ago, placing it among the nation’s top-performing markets.

The market’s occupancy rate also showed significant improvement on a trailing 12-month basis. While remaining well above the national average, the rate declined by 320 basis points, signaling a long-awaited recovery.

DFW’s pipeline among the nation’s largest

As of May, Dallas-Fort Worth’s office development pipeline included 2.6 million square feet, ranking third nationally. Boston led with 3.9 million square feet and Manhattan followed with 3.1 million square feet.

The Metroplex’s pipeline size accounted for 0.9 percent of the total stock—more than double the 0.4 percent national average. When also taking into account planned projects, the share reached 2.8 percent of stock, ranking sixth nationwide. Austin’s 2.9 percent was slightly above the metro’s, while other peers lagged behind, including San Diego (2.2 percent), Atlanta (1.7 percent) and Houston (1 percent).

The largest project currently underway, Goldman Sachs’ campus in NorthEnd, encompasses 800,000 square feet. Construction began in 2023, with Hunt Realty Investments as co-developer and Hillwood Urban as general contractor. Supported by a $513.9 million loan issued by JPMorgan Chase, the development is slated for completion in 2028. The upcoming complex is part of the broader NorthEnd district, expected to total nearly 4 million square feet at full build-out.

Five projects totaling 263,390 square feet started construction in the metro in the first five months of the year. The amount is 198 percent higher when compared to the same period of 2025.

As for office deliveries, only one building came online in the Metroplex during the interval, marking an 86.1 percent decline in completions over the year. SunBelt Rentals developed the 41,790-square-foot property at 1035 Texan Trail as part of its five-building campus in Grapevine, Texas.

Dallas among the leading markets for sales volume

The office investment volume reached nearly $1.4 billion year-to-date as of May, putting the Metroplex on the fourth position in the U.S. Manhattan led with $3.7 billion, followed by San Francisco ($2.3 billion) and the Bay Area ($1.7 billion).

Dallas office space changed hands at $215 per square foot on average—slightly above the $213 national figure. Among the peer set, Nashville ($440 per square foot) and Charlotte ($283 per square foot) surpassed the Metroplex, while Phoenix ($163 per square foot), Austin ($162 per square foot) and Houston ($159 per square foot) recorded lower prices.

The largest transaction that closed year-to-date as of May involved a 1.4 million-square-foot office campus in Irving, Texas. Vanderbilt Office Properties, Hillwood Urban and TriPost Capital Partners acquired The Towers at Williams Square, a three-building property within Las Colinas. Beal Bank provided more than $200 million for the purchase.

Another significant deal was the $142.9 million sale of Pinnacle Tower, a 549,170-square-foot property in Dallas. Estein USA bought the 24-story building from New York Life Real Estate Investors, with the support of a $100 million loan from Goldman Sachs. The Class A tower, completed in 1985, underwent cosmetic renovation in 2017.

Vacancy recovers, rents trail national average

The market’s office vacancy rate reached 20.4 percent in May, well above the 17.6 percent national rate.

On the plus side, the rate marked a 320-basis-point decline over the past 12 months, placing the metro on the fourth position nationally for occupancy improvement. The Metroplex lagged behind San Francisco (-520 basis points), Austin (-440 basis points) and Denver (-380 basis points).

Asking rents in Dallas averaged $31.69 per square foot in May—below the $33.61 per square foot national value. Among peers, the Bay Area led with $55.68 per square foot, followed by Austin ($47.00 per square foot).

In one of the market’s more significant office leases of the five-month interval, nonprofit Mercury One leased a 172,089-square-foot, vacant low-rise owned by Orion Properties in Irving. The full-building commitment marked the largest new leasing agreement in the Las Colinas submarket since 2021.

Coworking sector keeps Dallas competitive

Dallas-Fort Worth’s coworking sector encompassed 6.9 million square feet across 336 locations in May, according to CoworkingCafe. The amount represented 2.4 percent of the market’s total leasable office stock—slightly above the national average of 2.3 percent. Among peers, Atlanta ranked first at 2.7 percent, while other markets such as Austin (2.1 percent), Houston (1.9 percent) and the Bay Area (1.6 percent) lagged behind the Metroplex.

Regus remained the coworking provider with the largest footprint in the metro, with operations totaling 664,972 square feet. Other large operators included VariSpace (507,878 square feet), Lucid Private Offices (427,238 square feet), Caddo (376,440 square feet) and Venture X (262,173 square feet).