Leasing activity increased slightly in H2 2025, as relocations account for 51% of prime office deals. Prime office leasing volumes rose 1.7% in H2 2025 across our global dataset, which looks at the top 10 deals in 40 markets. Overall, 50% of these transactions were expansionary, while 44% maintained square footage. Just 6% of deals involved a reduction in office area, suggesting that a significant proportion of occupiers have already right-sized their portfolios where needed.

Relocations accounted for the majority of activity (at 51%), while 35% of transactions were stay-in-place renewals. Globally, occupiers continue to favour relocations into modernised, best-in-class space, prioritising high quality collaboration areas and amenities alongside strong environmental and technological credentials. Over the same period, prime office occupier costs rose by 2.8%, highlighting the sustained demand for premium buildings.

How does letting activity vary by region?

Approximately half of North American leasing maintained square footage in H2 2025, while 35% of deals increased square footage. Just 6% of transactions represented downsizing in our dataset.

Across the region, New York had the highest leasing volumes. The largest transaction was the relocation of Deloitte’s North American headquarters to a new office tower at 70 Hudson Yards. The purpose of the move was to consolidate offices currently split across two New York sites into a more collaborative and environmentally conscious space, while the footprint remained broadly consistent at 807,000 sq ft.

Seattle saw the strongest growth in activity compared with H1 2025, driven by sizeable deals in the technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI) sector. Apple completed a major new expansion and relocation  in downtown Seattle, describing the city as “a key software engineering hub.”

Activity in Europe and the Middle East was driven by relocations (69%), while 23% of deals were stay-in-place renewals. Two thirds of transactions maintained equivalent floor area, compared to 28% which expanded footprint. Within EMEA, Paris and Madrid saw the highest levels of leasing activity, with 87% of deals across these two cities being relocations.

Growth in the TAMI sector supported European leasing activity, with letting in this industry group up 86% compared with the first half of the year. Notable deals include Microsoft’s relocation of its French headquarters to the modernised GoodLife building outside Paris, moving after more than 15 years in its former EOS campus. The new office will serve as a hub for AI innovation.

Asia Pacific markets saw the highest level of expansionary deals (52%) and new entrants (6%), led by India. Delhi saw a strong uptick in deals by flexible office operators - as an occupier - up 59% half-on-half. Several large transactions drove activity, including CoWrks India launching its first 177,000 sq ft managed office in Mumbai.

We expect demand from flex operators in Asia Pacific to strengthen in 2026, especially across talent hubs in India, Malaysia and Vietnam. This trend is closely linked with multinationals seeking to tap cost-efficient talent pools, often via global capability centres which are increasingly housed in flex space.

Global leasing volumes by sector

The finance sector remained the most active by total 2025 deal count, up slightly compared to the previous year. Globally, Hong Kong had the most finance deals in H2 2025, most of which were expansionary. US trading firm Jane Street sharply increased its presence in Hong Kong with a 250,000 sq ft relocation to a new development on the Central waterfront.

TAMI was the second most active industry, with deal volumes increasing by 7% in H2 2025, largely driven by momentum in the AI sector. This growth phase is illustrated by recent relocations, which significantly increased office size: Doubao AI in Shanghai, Mistral AI in Paris and Harvey AI in San Francisco. AI will remain a key driver of occupier demand through 2026, although the pace of expansion suggests the potential for increased volatility over the medium term.

Other traditionally active leasing industries provide a more stable base of demand across global markets. The professional service sector saw an increase in deal count in the second half of 2025, overtaking both legal and consumer good sectors.

Deal size by sector

Government and education typically record the largest average deal size by area, with the current global average exceeding 150,000 sq ft. However, average lease sizes for this sector have declined by 7% in the second half of 2025 as occupiers become more space efficient.

In Paris, the Ministry of Education completed a relocation deal to Six Degrés, a newly completed office campus, well served by public transport. To improve cross-department collaboration and reduce environmental impact, several additional government departments are expected to move from dispersed legacy offices to this site in 2026.

Deals across professional services averaged 115,000 sq ft, with nearly three-quarters of all transactions in this sector maintaining square footage in H2 2025. Deloitte completed four renewals across New York, Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin, all on the same square footage. In Los Angeles, KPMG completed a relocation deal to U.S. Bank Tower, one of the city’s largest office leases this year. The move reflects a broadly unchanged footprint of around 70,000 sq ft. KPMG cited “top-tier amenities, enhanced technology and more collaboration space” as motivation behind the move.

Across the finance sector, 8% of deals globally represented size reduction. Of note, Moody’s Corporation announced a major consolidation of its New York office, downsizing by approximately 300,000 sq ft as part of a wider restructuring and office enhancement strategy.

On average within the finance sector, the US recorded the largest deals by area, averaging 152,000 sq ft compared to 81,000 sq ft across APAC and EMEA. In APAC and EMEA, a broader mix of boutique and mid-sized financial services firms feature in the top 10 deals.

Within the TAMI industries, large deal sizes were predominantly driven by US and Chinese multinationals. As an example, Salesforce announced an expansion and renewal of its New York office tower in H2 2025, bringing total space to 310,500 sq ft. TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, completed a 340,000 sq ft relocation in Beijing.

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