Bellevue, where the average home value is $1.1 million, consists of affluent demographics and continues to experience population growth. The Bellevue CBD submarket is home to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce and other expanding tech employers. This submarket has become the epicenter for office development in Puget Sound mainly due to Amazon’s expansion.

Submarket vacancy, currently 5.1 percent, remains much lower than other downtown markets across the country, according to Newmark research. Moreover, Bellevue market asking rents have increased dramatically, reaching $58.44 per-square-foot full-service gross in first-quarter 2021, an increase of 19 percent in the last two years.

The Eastside, which includes the cities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Bothell, recorded a sizable increase in investment activity in recent years. The average price per square foot for Eastside office sales has risen by roughly 85 percent since 2015 and asking rents have increased by 17 percent since first quarter 2018. The Eastside encompasses 34.3 million square feet with an overall vacancy of 6.4 percent, according to Newmark’s first quarter 2021 report.