A Few Scribbles from the First Half of 2026

Can you believe we’re halfway through 2026?! Here are a few things that stand out to me when I look at our 2026 deal flow, roughly 350 closed deals.

A ton of activity under 10K square feet. Close to 88% of our office leases in the first half were under 10,000 square feet, and about half of our industrial leases, too. The well-located, right-sized, functional space is what’s moving. On the office side, building out spec suites with new carpet, paint, and updated lighting, is really accelerating leasing.

Our office tenants are signing longer. The median office lease term in our deals this year is five years, up from about three in 2023 and 2024. This tells me something real about confidence returning to the right buildings and locations.

Industrial stays tight. Almost every industrial project under construction is build-to-suit and already spoken for, and nobody can build speculative small product at rents that actually pencil. So the well-located existing stock is basically the whole market, and it isn’t growing. Vacancy proves it, sitting under 4% and actually ticking down in Q2 for the first time in six quarters. Tenants are choosing functional, value-oriented space over the newest premium boxes. This is exactly where incentives and creative financing are worth exploring, to help supply catch up to demand.

Retail: Our sweet spot is the 2,000 square feet, five-year deal. Nearly 90% of our retail leases are under 5,000 square feet, with about two thirds under 2,500. Above our 2,500 square foot deals, you start to see higher capex, more tenant buildout, and longer terms. Services, food, and fitness are driving the activity.

Downtown’s reset is the opportunity I’m watching most. We’re seeing downtown office towers change hands at pricing that looked unthinkable a few years ago. It’s messy, but a lowered basis gives new owners the room to reinvest and actually compete for tenants. As bumpy as it is, I think this is how the next generation of competitive downtown space gets built, and the groups moving now will need real support to pull it off.

Check out our Q2 MarketBeats below for a broader view of the market.

We’re full steam ahead into the second half of the year and we hope you are too! Please reach out anytime if we can be of assistance.

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