Westchester County Office Market
At the end of Q1 2025, the county鈥檚 total vacancy rate rose to 26.0%, up from 25.7% the previous quarter and 23.2% a year earlier. The availability rate鈥攚hich includes space expected to be vacated within 12 months鈥攅dged down slightly to 27.0% from 27.1% last quarter. Leasing activity improved this quarter, reaching nearly 350,000 square feet鈥�16.3% higher than the same period last year. Despite the uptick, volume was 18.0% below the 10-year historical average. Demand was primarily driven by mid-sized transactions ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 square feet, while smaller ‘bread-and-butter’ deals were less common. The Downtown White Plains market set the pace, accounting for 165,000 square feet across 20 deals, 48% above its historical average. And although several companies, such as Danone, DelBello and Byram Healthcare have contracted, new entrants and expansions have helped offset the negative absorption cause by these reductions. In terms of business sectors, over the past year, the legal and government sectors have been the most active sources of demand in the CBD submarket. Following the post-pandemic peak of $28.74/SF in 2023, direct average asking rents have edged down slightly, settling at $28.48/SF by the end of Q1 2025. In 2024, the annual rent growth was negative for the first time since 2019. The growth rate may rend upward again as obsolete space is removed from the market, reducing availability and pushing prices higher.