A high-level look at leasing, rent, construction, and sales activity across the Denver office market — current conditions, five-year history, and the forecast through 2030. Data sourced from CoStar, current as of 8/7/2026.
This report covers the full Denver metro office market across 34 tracked submarkets — including the CBD, Cherry Creek, Denver Tech Center, LoDo, Platte River, and the broader suburban ring — spanning roughly 185 million square feet of office space. Denver remains a key economic hub in the Rocky Mountain region, anchored by a population of just over 3.1 million and direct connectivity through Denver International Airport, which supports business travel and regional logistics. The metro's workforce is highly educated, with about half of residents holding a bachelor's degree or higher, well above the national average, spanning technology, aerospace, defense, energy, financial services, and legal sectors. Population and job growth have cooled to under 1% and roughly 0.2% annually, respectively, and unemployment sits at 3.8% versus 4.3% nationally, while median household income of $113,062 remains well above the $85,156 national figure.
Denver's office market remains challenged, with vacancy at a record 18.3% and annual net absorption still negative at roughly -310K SF — though early signs of stabilization are emerging, including a slowdown in tenant move-outs, limited supply pressure, and steady leasing activity. Performance varies sharply by quality tier: 4 & 5 Star buildings posted +620K SF of annual net absorption as tenants continued to prioritize high-quality, amenity-rich space, while 3 Star buildings shed 550K SF and 1 & 2 Star properties shed 370K SF, highlighting the market's growing bifurcation. Cherry Creek is the clearest outperformer, with vacancy of just 6.3% on continued demand from financial institutions, law firms, and energy companies, while the CBD continues to struggle at 32.1% vacancy with nearly 790K SF of competing sublease space. Aerospace, defense, energy, legal, and advanced technology occupiers remain the most active tenant groups, with recent expansions from SM Energy, Hall & Evans, and FBT Gibbons.
Shaded years (2026–2030) are forecast
Shaded years (2026–2030) are forecast
Flight-to-quality remains the dominant leasing theme, though tenants increasingly define quality through location, amenities, ownership stability, and move-in-ready space rather than simply building age. At $30.52/SF, Denver average rents are only about $1 higher than they were entering 2020, and tenants commonly receive one month of free rent for each year of term, further lowering effective rents. Buildings built in 2020 or later have seen asking-rent increases of nearly 5% over the past five years, with Cherry Creek emerging as one of the few landlord-favorable submarkets — new construction there has quoted as high as $75/SF NNN, a new benchmark for the market. The gap between direct and sublease asking rents has widened to roughly $9/SF, up from just over $2/SF in 2019, as nearly 790K SF of discounted sublease space keeps pressure on landlords in less competitive buildings.
Shaded years (2026–2030) are forecast
Investors are slowly returning to Denver office, with $1.2B traded over the past 12 months, up from the mid-2024 trough of $750M. The average office property traded at $220/SF in the past year, down from the mid-2021 peak of $257/SF, and cap rates have climbed to about 8.9% from their most recent low near mid-2021. Institutional investors and REITs have pulled back to roughly 20% of buyer activity (from a historical ~35%), while private equity has grown to nearly 20% of sales activity chasing opportunistic buys — Real Capital Solutions' purchase of Belleview Tower at a 51% discount to its 2019 price, and Dunton Commercial/Centre Point's acquisition of Prentice Plaza at a 46% discount, are notable examples. Distress has been concentrated in a handful of 1980s-built Downtown towers (Wells Fargo Center, Columbine Place, 1670 Broadway), though market participants generally agree the bulk of office debt has now been worked through.
| Highest Asking Rent | $/SF |
|---|---|
| Platte River | $45.71 |
| Cherry Creek | $43.48 |
| LoDo | $39.34 |
| CBD | $35.09 |
| Parker/Castle Rock | $33.19 |
| Lowest Vacancy by Submarket | Rate |
|---|---|
| Northeast Denver | 3.6% |
| Lone Tree | 4.4% |
| Outlying Douglas County | 4.2% |
| Parker/Castle Rock | 6.2% |
| Cherry Creek | 6.3% |
Just 810,235 SF is under construction — only 0.4% of existing inventory, down from the 10-year annual average of 2.3M SF — as higher construction costs, tighter lending standards, and elevated vacancy continue to limit new project starts. Development has become heavily concentrated in build-to-suit and highly targeted projects, with 73.3% of the active pipeline already pre-leased. Cherry Creek accounts for more than half of the metro's pipeline at 411K SF, supported by the submarket's exceptionally low vacancy and strong rent growth, while other notable projects include the 205,000-SF Broncos Training Facility in Centennial and 120,000 SF under construction in Platte River. After decades of uninterrupted growth, Denver's office inventory actually declined for the first time on record in 2025, shrinking by roughly 865K SF as demolitions and conversions outpaced new deliveries — a trend expected to continue through 2030 and gradually support vacancy improvement.