Houston Office Absorption on Rise

Houston’s office market reported positive absorption for the first time in a year, with 348,414 square feet of positive net absorption during the second quarter to finish mid-year 2025 with a positive 286,575 square feet. Tenants are continuing the flight-to-quality trend, with Class A properties posting 313,363 square feet of net absorption, according to Colliers.

Colliers’ Danny Gray added, “Houston’s office market turned a corner in Q2, posting its first net absorption rate in a year and pushing year-to-date totals into positive territory.”

Leasing volume has slowed from last year, with quarterly activity decreasing to 2.2M square feet, representing 17.9% of the previous quarter’s volume and 47.8% of the same period last year.

The overall vacancy rate improved to 27.4% after reporting a record-high 27.9% for the last two quarters and was slightly below the 27.5% from a year ago.

Construction activity remains limited. Class A average asking rents decreased to $33.20 per square foot, while overall gross asking rents reported a marginal increase to $29.00 per square foot from last quarter but a decrease from the same period last year.