Miami Office Prices Remain Elevated as Development Levels Off

Miami’s office sector started off the year with strong key metrics, according to the latest CommercialEdge data. While high vacancy rates have spread across most U.S. markets in recent years, the Magic City recorded the lowest figure among the top 25 markets in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, investment activity slowed down significantly when compared to the same period last year, with Miami emerging as the runner-up among markets with high sales prices.

Development activity stagnated, with the same large projects under construction. Still, the metro’s pipeline was among the largest among its peers.

Miami office prices reach highs

Investment activity slowed down in the first quarter of the year, the metro’s sales volume totaling $170.3 million—one of the lowest in the country and down from the $207 million recorded during last year’s first quarter. Across gateway markets, Manhattan led the rankings with nearly $2 billion, followed by Washington, D.C. ($769 million) and Chicago ($351.3 million). The only metro that outperformed by Miami was Seattle, where sales amounted to $91.1 million.

So far in 2025, one of the biggest sales in metro Miami was the $76 million acquisition of Columbus Center, a 258,736-square-foot property in Coral Gables, Fla. The 1990-built Class A mid-rise was sold by Affinius Capital to Philadelphia-based Tourmaline Capital Partners.

Another notable deal was the $22.7 million purchase of The Meridian Center, a 54,471-square-foot office building in Miami Beach, Fla., acquired by Valoro Capital. The six-story property changed hands from Market Street Real Estate Partners in early January.

As of March, office assets changed hands at an average sale price of $287.08 per square foot in Miami—way above the national average of $181.38 per square foot. Miami emerged as the leader in office prices during last year, while so far it keeps its place among the most expensive gateway markets, on the second spot.

Manhattan recorded the highest prices, as properties swapped at $446.17 per square foot. Other expensive gateway cities were San Francisco (242.52 per square foot), Washington, D.C. (228.49 per square foot) and Los Angeles (228.23 per square foot). Seattle and Chicago, where office properties traded at $91.82 per square foot and $65.87 per square foot, respectively, were at the opposite end of the spectrum.

A steady pipeline

As of March, Miami’s under-construction pipeline included approximately 1.7 million square feet of space, placing it eights among the top 10 best-performing markets in the U.S. The metro slightly outperformed Manhattan (1.5 million square feet) and Washington, D.C. (1.2 million square feet).

Across gateway markets, Boston remained the leader in office development, with 6.3 million square feet in its pipeline, while San Francisco followed with 3.1 million square feet. Seattle and Chicago were the only gateway metros that had under-construction inventories below 1 million square feet.

The Magic City’s 1.7 million square feet of under-construction space accounted for 2.3 percent of its existing stock—above the national average of 0.7 percent and outperforming San Francisco’s 1.9 percent. Among gateway markets, Boston led with 2.4 percent. When adding projects in planning stages to this figure, Miami’s share reached 7.1 percent—significantly above the 2.5 percent U.S. average.

The list of the largest projects underway in the metro remained unchanged: Royal Caribbean’s headquarters, totaling 380,000 square feet, is the largest development currently underway, scheduled to come online next January. The second-largest project under construction is the 370,000-square-foot UHealth Medical Center at SoLé Mia, a medical office project developed by LeFrak Organization and Turnberry, set to reach completion this September.

Construction starts totaled 93,200 square feet across two properties, accounting for 0.2 percent of existing stock. Meanwhile, first-quarter office deliveries in Miami comprised a single property: a 19,700-square-foot medical office building at 15200 Northwest 77th Court in Miami Lakes, Fla. The property was developed by The Graham Cos. as Baptist Health Emergency Health’s fourth emergency room in South Florida.

Miami shows potential for office-to-residential makeovers

Beyond the slowdown in new deliveries and construction starts, office-to-residential conversions present a viable opportunity for repurposing underutilized office space nationwide—Miami, in particular, offers a multitude of suitable prospects.

As a response, CommercialEdge launched the Conversion Feasibility Index last year: a Yardi-powered tool that evaluates a property’s potential for residential makeover, while also showcasing which markets are strong candidates for such projects. Based on property-level scores, Miami had 60 office properties within the Tier I category, with scores between 90 and 100 points—the highest for conversion—which comprised 5.2 million square feet of space.

The lowest vacancy rate in the U.S.

As of March, the office vacancy rate in Miami reached 15.5 percent—below the national average of 19.9 percent and representing a 220-basis-point year-over-year increase. The Magic City’s rate was the lowest among gateway markets. Some of the lowest values were recorded in Manhattan and Los Angeles, both with a 16.5 percent vacancy rate. In contrast, the gateway markets with high rates were San Francisco (28.6 percent) and Seattle (27.5 percent).

Significant leases since the start of the year include Amazon’s 50,333-square-foot leasing agreement at Wynwood Plaza, closed in late January and representing the largest office lease ever recorded in the metro’s Wynwood submarket. Owned by L&L Holding Co. and Oak Row Equities, the 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project will include a 266,000 square-foot, 12-story building and a residential component.

Miami’s average listing rate hit $55.84 per square foot as of March—above the national average of $33.42 per square foot and on the third spot among its peers. Manhattan led the rankings with $69.03 per square foot, followed by San Francisco ($63.83 per square foot) and Los Angeles ($42.66 per square foot). The most affordable gateway market was Chicago, where rents averaged $27.51 per square foot.

Miami records the highest coworking share

The metro’s coworking sector comprised approximately 3 million square feet across 143 locations, a significant expansion from the 1.6 million square feet registered at the end of last year’s first quarter. Manhattan led, with a 11.3 million-square-foot footprint and was led by Chicago (8.1 million square feet) and Los Angeles (6.8 million square feet).

The share of coworking space as percentage of total leasable office space reached 3.7 percent in Miami—the highest figure among gateway metros and above the national average of 2 percent. Other markets with high figures include Chicago, with 2.4 percent, along with Manhattan and Los Angeles, with 2.3 percent both.

Regus remained the flex office provider with the largest footprint in the metro, with locations totaling 327,211 square feet. The list of top coworking operators remained unchanged: WeWork (268,578 square feet), Spaces (263,927 square feet), Quest Workspaces (221,749 square feet) and Industrious (215,000 square feet).

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