Los Angeles office market statistics show a market still carrying substantial vacant space, but with late-2025 improvement in vacancy and absorption compared with earlier quarters. Cushman & Wakefield reported a 23.4% overall vacancy rate and negative 19,210 square feet of year-to-date net absorption in Q4 2025. Average asking rent was $3.59 per square foot per month. The figures below distinguish Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and individual submarkets, and identify estimates or forecasts where applicable.
Contents
- Market snapshot
- Vacancy and absorption
- Rents and office inventory
- Leasing activity
- Tenants and industry demand
- Employment and economic indicators
- Construction and historical context
Market snapshot
The headline Q4 2025 measures from Cushman & Wakefield describe the overall Los Angeles office market at the end of the year:
- Overall vacancy was 23.4%.
- Year-to-date net absorption was negative 19,210 SF.
- Average asking rent was $3.59 per SF per month.
- Q4 leasing volume was just over 1.7 million SF.
- Full-year 2025 leasing totaled 9.6 million SF.
- No new office deliveries occurred during Q4 2025, and no new office deliveries occurred during full-year 2025.
Those indicators describe a market with limited new supply and restrained occupancy growth. Leasing volume measures completed leasing activity, while net absorption measures the change in occupied space, so the two figures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Vacancy and absorption
Vacancy improved through 2025 in the quarterly Cushman & Wakefield series. Overall vacancy was 24.5% in Q1 2025, 24.1% in Q2, 23.9% in Q3, and 23.4% in Q4. Q3 vacancy was 30 basis points higher than both the prior quarter and the prior year, according to the Q3 2025 report. By Q4, the annual market measure had moved below the Q3 level.
Net absorption remained negative, although the year-to-date amount narrowed substantially by the end of the year. Q1 2025 net absorption was negative 638,092 SF. Q2 net absorption was negative 129,639 SF, while Q3 year-to-date net absorption was negative 52,951 SF. Q4 year-to-date net absorption was negative 19,210 SF. These are period-specific measures from the respective Cushman & Wakefield reports, not a single quarterly sequence that should be summed without further methodology.
The vacancy figures also show why a small improvement in the overall rate does not mean that conditions were uniform across Los Angeles. In Q1 2025, Downtown CBD vacancy was 31.8%, LA West vacancy was 25.4%, and San Gabriel Valley vacancy was 8.8%. The spread between those submarkets was 23 percentage points, based on the Q1 2025 Cushman & Wakefield figures.
Colliers reported a different geography and measure for Greater Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles office availability peaked at 28.3% by Q3 2024. Availability then decreased by 40 basis points in Q4 2024, which Colliers described as the first notable decline in four years. Availability and vacancy are related but distinct measures, so the Colliers availability result should not be substituted for the Cushman & Wakefield vacancy series.
Rents and office inventory
Asking rents were relatively stable across the 2025 Cushman & Wakefield quarterly observations:
| Period | Measure | Asking rent |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | Overall | $3.60/SF/month |
| Q2 2025 | Average | $3.64/SF/month |
| Q3 2025 | Overall | $3.58/SF/month |
| Q4 2025 | Average | $3.59/SF/month |
The same reports provide selected quality-tier benchmarks. Q1 2025 Class A average asking rent was $3.86 per SF per month. Q2 2025 Class B average rent was $2.97 per SF per month. These are asking-rent observations, not reported effective rents after concessions, tenant improvements, or other deal terms.
Los Angeles total office inventory was 212,769,259 SF in Q1 2025. The Q1 inventory included 45,772,815 SF of total direct vacant space and 6,395,526 SF of total sublet vacant space. Total year-to-date leasing activity was 2,023,138 SF, and total space under construction was 2,107,100 SF. Downtown CBD alone contained 26,429,032 SF of inventory in Q1 2025.
These inventory measures provide context for the vacancy rate. Direct vacant space and sublet vacant space are separate components, and the reported totals should not be combined with other periods unless the market boundary and definitions match.
Leasing activity
Leasing slowed late in 2025. Cushman & Wakefield recorded just over 1.7 million SF of leasing volume in Q4 2025, down 29.6% quarter over quarter and 39.6% year over year. Full-year 2025 leasing totaled 9.6 million SF, down 7.5% from 2024. Cushman & Wakefield noted that 2025 was the first year since 2020 in which annual leasing did not exceed 10 million SF.
The Q4 mix also distinguishes direct leasing from renewals. Direct leasing totaled 1.6 million SF, down 18.1% quarter over quarter and 35.6% year over year. Renewals totaled 1.3 million SF, up 3.5% quarter over quarter and 13.7% year over year. Because these categories can reflect different tenant decisions, the stronger renewal figures do not necessarily indicate equivalent growth in new occupancy demand.
Colliers reported stronger activity for a different period and geography. Greater Los Angeles leasing activity totaled 3.6 million SF in Q4 2024, while full-year 2024 leasing activity totaled nearly 14.5 million SF. The full-year 2024 total was 23.6% below the 2019 pre-pandemic total of 18.9 million SF. Colliers also reported that Greater Los Angeles annual leasing in Q4 2024 was the highest since the pandemic began.
The comparison below keeps the two research series in their stated geographies and periods:
| Measure | Result | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles full-year leasing | 9.6 million SF | Cushman & Wakefield, 2025 |
| Greater Los Angeles full-year leasing | Nearly 14.5 million SF | Colliers, 2024 |
| Greater Los Angeles pre-pandemic leasing | 18.9 million SF | Colliers, 2019 |
| Los Angeles Q4 leasing volume | Just over 1.7 million SF | Cushman & Wakefield, Q4 2025 |
| Greater Los Angeles Q4 leasing activity | 3.6 million SF | Colliers, Q4 2024 |
Tenants and industry demand
Several large transactions shaped Q4 2025 activity in the Cushman & Wakefield report. Farmers Insurance recommitted to 251,774 SF in Warner Center. Northrop Grumman renewed 124,400 SF in El Segundo. LA County Public Works signed a 73,595 SF lease in Canoga Park, the largest direct deal of the quarter. Hallmark Media secured 60,877 SF in Burbank, and Banc of California will relocate into 39,720 SF at 865 S. Figueroa.
By industry, financial services firms led Q4 leasing activity with 452,186 SF. Professional services accounted for 304,436 SF, and legal services accounted for 119,258 SF. These industry totals describe leasing activity, not total occupied inventory or employment in each industry.
The transaction figures also illustrate the range of deal sizes in the quarter. The largest listed recommitment was 251,774 SF, while the listed relocation at 865 S. Figueroa was 39,720 SF. Renewals and relocations can support building occupancy, but they represent different forms of market demand from new direct leases.
Employment and economic indicators
Los Angeles County employment was 4.6 million in Q4 2025, and the county unemployment rate was 5.7%, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The report also stated that the monthly unemployment rate improved to 5.9%, down from 6.0% one year earlier. Because the report presents these as different measures, the monthly rate and the Q4 county rate should not be conflated.
Between September 2024 and September 2025, Los Angeles County added 16,500 nonfarm jobs, a 0.4% increase. Private education and health services added 50,600 jobs year over year. Healthcare and social assistance added 50,400 jobs year over year and reached a record employment level, according to the Cushman & Wakefield Q4 2025 report.
Other year-over-year employment changes were mixed:
- Government added 9,400 jobs.
- Leisure and hospitality added 1,100 jobs.
- The information sector posted a net gain of 300 jobs.
- Motion picture and sound recording industries added 2,500 jobs.
- Broadcasting and content providers shed 1,300 jobs.
- Manufacturing shed 12,200 jobs.
- Professional and business services fell by 11,900 jobs.
The industry results help explain why total job growth was modest despite strong gains in healthcare and social assistance. The reported gains and losses are employment changes in Los Angeles County, not office absorption figures for the Los Angeles office market.
Cushman & Wakefield projected Los Angeles County total employment growth of 0.7% in 2026 and 0.6% in 2027. These are projections, not completed employment results, and they should be read separately from the observed September 2024-to-September 2025 change.
Construction and historical context
Supply additions were limited in 2025. Cushman & Wakefield reported no new office deliveries in Q4 2025 and no new office deliveries across full-year 2025. At the same time, roughly 2.1 million SF of office space remained under construction in Q3 2025. The Q1 2025 report recorded 2,107,100 SF under construction, a closely specified measure for that quarter.
The lack of completed deliveries does not eliminate future supply considerations. Space under construction can affect tenant choices and vacancy expectations before it is delivered, while the absence of Q4 deliveries limits the amount of newly completed space entering the market during that quarter.
Sublease conditions provide another historical reference point. Colliers reported that sublease space reached a record high of 5% earlier in 2024 before declining. Its Q4 2024 availability measure then fell 40 basis points from the Q3 peak. Those observations are for Greater Los Angeles and use the Colliers research period; they are not replacements for the Los Angeles vacancy and sublet-space figures reported by Cushman & Wakefield.
Taken together, the available statistics show a Los Angeles office market with 23.4% overall vacancy in Q4 2025, negative year-to-date absorption, stable asking rents near $3.60 per SF per month, and 9.6 million SF of leasing for the year. County employment reached 4.6 million, while job gains were concentrated in education, health services, government, and selected entertainment categories. The market’s submarkets, leasing types, and research geographies remain important when interpreting any single headline statistic.