Seattle Ranks High in Office Rent, Tech Job Growth

Despite the pandemic forcing many to work from home, the tech industry is still a massive force in office leasing in the Seattle area and across the United States.

Seattle ranks No. 3 in the commercial real estate firm CBRE’S annual Tech-30 report, which takes into account office rent growth, net absorption rate and tech industry job growth in the top 30 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Charlotte, North Carolina, is No. 2 and New York City No. 1.

Seattles office rent growth was 11.8% between the second quarter of 2018 and the second quarter of 2020. Seattle also saw a 3.7% increase in net absorption for office space. Silicon Valleys rent growth trailed Seattles at 11.6%.

Tech jobs in Seattle have boomed over the past four years, with an almost 22% spike. In Silicon Valley, tech jobs grew 5.2% in the same time period. Just in 2018 and 2019, the tech job force in Seattle jumped by 29.2%.

Even in a Covid-19 environment, many of our regions tech firms are continuing to hire and plan future office expansions, says Tim Owens, CBRE senior vice president. This bodes well for the Puget Sound office markets resiliency in the long term.