The Dallas area has topped the nation in office building sales through the first eight months of 2022.
Nearly $3.5 billion in office buildings have changed hands in Dallas through the end of August, according to a new report from Yardi Systems.
The Dallas area outpaced East Coast markets including Boston and Manhattan for office sales so far this year.
Some of the largest recent area office sales include the 3400 CityLine building in Richardson, the Element Towers in North Dallas and the HQ53 building in Plano.
Dallas ranks fifth nationally for office construction.
“Dallas had the second-largest construction pipeline in the South by square footage with 7.22 million square feet, representing 2.7% of its stock,” Yardi Systems analysts report. “Dallas stood out in terms of sales as well, recording $3.48 billion in office transactions by the end of August for the largest office sales volume in the country, with its $194 per square foot year-to-date sales price making that volume even more remarkable.”
The national office sales volume totaled $59.63 billion this year, according to the new estimates.
Along with leading in office sales, Dallas is at the head of the list of major U.S. metro areas that have seen the greatest gains in office-using business employment.
The Dallas area’s office sector employment has grown by almost 10% in the last year — almost twice the nationwide percentage increase. Most of the gains are coming in professional and business services jobs, according to Yardi Systems.
Austin was a close second for office job growth.
Office employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is growing by between 80,000 and 100,000 positions annually, according to commercial property firm Transwestern.
For the 12 months ending in September, expanding and relocating businesses have occupied over 3.3 million square feet of North Texas office space.
The growth of life science businesses have fueled office sector growth in many markets around the country, Yardi Systems analysts said.
“Billions of dollars of funding — both private and public — have been flowing into the life science sectors in recent years,” the new office report concluded. “Investors are paying top dollar for lab space, and developers are rushing to bring more to market.
“While there has been some concern in recent months that rising interest rates and general economic weakness could cause a slowdown in the sector, it has not yet manifested in the sales and supply data.”
The office building sector isn’t the only area where North Texas commercial property sales are soaring. In the first half of 2022, investors snapped up over $12 billion in North Texas apartment properties — the most of any U.S. metro area, according to Newmark Group.
The D-FW area recorded over $4 billion in industrial building sales, the most of any U.S. metro area.
