Q1 2026 Global Prime Office Rent Tracker
Q1 2026 prime office asking rents increased year-over-year in 40 of the 74 global markets tracked by CBRE, primarily driven by sustained demand and a limited amount of new supply.
Americas
Eleven of the 17 major Americas office markets tracked by CBRE had year-over-year increases in prime office asking rents in Q1 due to continued strong demand for top-tier space and historically low levels of new supply.
Dallas led with year-over-year rent growth of 16.9%, followed by Century City in Los Angeles (12.9%), Washington, D.C. (12.5%) and Midtown Manhattan (5.9%). Double-digit rent growth in several markets was driven by extremely tight availability of prime space and little to no new construction. Seattle had the biggest year-over-year drop in prime rent (-3.6%), followed by Boston (-2.8%) and Vancouver (-0.8%).
While overall office demand remains below long-run averages, prime office space has remained in high demand. Prime buildings have registered 73 million sq. ft. of positive net absorption since Q1 2020, compared with negative 152 million sq. ft. in non-prime buildings. The 12.7% prime office vacancy rate is 6.4 percentage points below the non-prime average, the largest spread between prime and non-prime since CBRE began tracking this metric in 2018.
Strong demand for newer, amenity-laden prime space will outpace lower levels of new supply in many markets through 2026, further tightening the top end of the market and supporting prime rent growth.
1Americas region prime office asking rents are for available space only, whereas prime rents cited for Europe and Asia-Pacific include estimates of what occupied space would rent for if it were available.
Europe
CBRE's prime office rent index for Europe increased by 6.7% year-over-year, a trend fueled by continued demand for the limited amount of prime office space. Prime rents increased year-over-year in 24 of the 32 European markets tracked by CBRE.
Several markets saw healthy prime rent growth year-over-year in Q1, including Birmingham (20.2%), London West End (17.7%) and Milan (5.3%). Overall office leasing activity totaled 23.5 million sq. ft. in Q1, down by 12% from the same quarter last year, with annual leasing activity falling by 4.5%. The prime office vacancy rate edged up by 10 basis points to 9.0%.
Office construction completions fell by 27% year-over-year to a historic low, while net absorption totaled 237,373 sq. ft. Occupiers continued to favor central business district locations over outer city and suburban areas as part of talent attraction and retention strategies.
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific office occupier sentiment remained resilient in Q1 2026, with most markets not seeing any impact from the Middle East conflict. Seventeen of the region’s 25 major markets tracked by CBRE recorded year-over-year increases in prime rents.
Limited availability of premium assets in core locations, combined with strong flight to quality relocation and expansion demand, continued to drive prime rent growth. Mumbai-BKC continued to lead with year-over-year prime rent growth of 18.1%, followed by Tokyo-Central 5 Wards (16.5%) and Delhi NCR-Gurgaon (14.4%).
Hong Kong SAR's prime rent grew by 14.0%, driven by finance occupiers’ demand for trophy buildings. Prime rent growth in Australia was led by Brisbane (12.8%) and Sydney (8.2%) amid declining incentives, easing supply growth and elevated construction costs. Meanwhile, prime rents in mainland China further declined as landlords continued to maintain occupancy by offering generous incentive packages to tenants.
Asia Class A office absorption contracted by 6.3% year-over-year to 17.3 million sq. ft., largely due to a 12.5% drop in new supply to 11.9 million sq. ft. The region’s Class A vacancy rate fell by 31 basis points to 17.2%.The possibility of a prolonged Middle East conflict and high oil prices may push up office fit-out costs, hindering relocation activity in coming quarters. Overall office leasing demand is expected to remain flat this year.
