San Francisco Bay Area Claims 14 of the Largest Office Leases in 2025

The San Francisco Bay Area claimed 14 of the largest U.S. office leases by square footage in 2025, totaling 4.3 million sq. ft., according to a new report from CBRE. Four leases were in San Francisco, eight leases were in Silicon Valley and the East Bay and the Peninsula each had one lease. This is up from the year prior when the region had 11 of the Top 100 leases totaling 3.37 million sq. ft.

Ten of the 14 leases were signed by tech companies and accounted for 58% of the 5.7 million sq. ft. that tech companies leased across the U.S. Seven of the 10 tech leases in the region were expansions, totaling 1.1 million sq. ft. Nationally, the tech industry accounted for 27 of the largest leases of 2025 by square footage.

“Expansion by artificial intelligence-related companies and divisions within large tech employers led to increased office leasing activity in the San Francisco Bay Area last year. The region’s concentration of talent and massive influx of venture capital funding fueled the office market’s recovery,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center.

The Bay Area’s 50 largest office leases in 2025 totaled 9.7 million sq. ft. Tech companies accounted for 6.5 million sq. ft., 44% of which were expansions. AI-related tech companies leased 1.6 million sq. ft. in 2025 and accounted for 55% of the tech industry’s 2.9 million sq. ft. of growth in the region.

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CBRE’s analysis of the 100 largest office leases by square footage found that downtown buildings accounted for 54 of the Top 100, or 59% by square footage, in 2025. Among downtowns, which are generally categorized as central business districts, leases of 100,000 sq. ft. or more rose 19% by square footage of overall office leasing.

Prime office buildings, which CBRE defines as the best of the best buildings in a market, captured 18% of top deals by square footage despite comprising just 8% of total U.S. office inventory. Class A buildings, just one notch below prime buildings, captured 61% of the top 100 leases, highlighting a growing trend of demand spilling over to Class A space as available prime office space dwindles.

Expansions Outpace Other Deals in Top 100 Leases

Expansions by large occupiers accounted for 55% of the 28.1 million sq. ft. total leased among the top 100. By number, expansions represented 50 of the top leases, up from 44 in 2024.

Relocations also increased, accounting for 31% of the square footage in 2025, up from 21% in 2024. A quarter of those relocations entailed companies moving into prime buildings, further reflecting the flight-to-quality trend.

A source of momentum for expansions and relocations: Companies have more confidence in their long-term space needs and are more comfortable signing new leases instead of renewing out of caution.

Notably, expansions accounted for about two-thirds of the leasing activity by both financial services and tech firms.

Manhattan and the San Francisco Bay Area were the only markets to materially increase their share of space leased, gaining three and two percentage points, respectively.

Top 5 Markets by Share of Largest 100 Office Leases of 2025

On the market level, Manhattan has the most Top 100 leases due in part to major tenants securing space earlier than usual as high-quality, large-footprint options dry up. The Bay Area rose to No. 2, followed distantly by Dallas/Fort Worth.