- Multitenant office sales reached $22.7 billion in Q3 2026, up 31.8% from Q2 and 27% from a year earlier, while the average cap rate rose 9 basis points to 7.58%.
- Sales total $58.8 billion through September versus $71.9 billion for all of 2025, so a fourth quarter near $13.1 billion would push 2026 past last year.
- The West led with $5.6 billion at a 7.12% cap rate, while the Midwest posted the highest yield at 8.49% and the least volume, and private investors drove 52% of deals.
Office buyers are back at higher yields: multitenant office investment sales hit $22.7 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 31.8% from the second quarter, according to GlobeSt, citing Northmarq’s latest Market Snapshot.
The average cap rate rose another 9 basis points to 7.58%.
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Volume Rebounds
Third-quarter volume was also 27% above the $17.9 billion posted a year earlier. Activity had slowed in the first half of 2026.
Sales reached $58.8 billion through September, compared with $71.9 billion for all of 2025. A fourth quarter of about $13.1 billion would push 2026 past last year, and Q3 alone ran well above that pace.
Pricing Keeps Resetting
The average office cap rate was 6.37% in 2022, rose to 7.50% in 2025 and is averaging 7.58% through the first nine months of 2026, more than 120 basis points above the 2022 level.
The same pattern showed up in our look at Q3 investment sales, where office volume rose 22.4% on discounted deals even as the overall cap rate climbed 22 basis points to 6.56%.
Regional Winners
Mid-Atlantic volume more than doubled to $2.6 billion from $1.2 billion in Q2, with a 7.95% cap rate, second-highest nationally. The Southeast rose roughly 52% to $4.1 billion.
The West led again with $5.6 billion, or 24.8% of national volume, at a 7.12% cap rate that was the lowest in the country and unchanged from the prior quarter and a year ago. The Northeast matched the Southeast at about $4.1 billion, and the Southwest recorded $3.5 billion.
The Midwest had the highest cap rate at 8.49% and the least activity at $1.7 billion.
Who Is Buying
Domestic private investors accounted for 52% of volume through September, close to their 53% share in 2025 and 2024. Domestic institutions made up 22%, up from 18% in 2024.
International buyers took 9%, public REITs 6% and users and others 11%. The analysis uses Real Capital Analytics data on sales above $2.5 million.
Why It Matters
Deal volume is rising while yields keep expanding, so buyers are entering at pricing that is still resetting. By comparison, single-tenant office sales fell to $1.9 billion in Q2, per earlier Northmarq data we covered, as cap rates slipped to 7.14%.
What’s Next
Northmarq says the sector is on pace to exceed 2025 volume if activity holds near current levels. The fourth quarter will decide it.
