CBRE Says Office Leasing Still Strong Amid Trump Tariffs

As the Trump administration’s trade war drives investors to the sidelines and recession forecasts through the roof, a yearslong underdog of commercial real estate may prove a stronghold: office.

CBRE, during its first-quarter earnings call this week, said companies nationwide are recognizing a need for more space amid a dearth of new office deliveries. So far, that demand has overpowered fears about the economy’s uncertain future.

“The choppiness we’re now seeing in people’s confidence about the economy is really not impacting their enthusiasm for leasing office space,” CEO Bob Sulentic said on Wednesday morning.

In the first quarter, which predates much of the tariff bedlam, CBRE reported a 19 percent pop in global leasing revenue year over year, driven largely by a 38 percent surge in U.S. office leasing.

“On office, pretty much all metrics are up, square footage, terms, rents are up slightly, ” CFO Emma Giamartino said.

Sulentic’s narrative bucks the market-wide chill New York City’s office and retail brokers reported in the days after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs went live.

Prospective tenants, particularly foreign firms, retracted their pens to wait and see how the policies shook out.

But other insider anecdotes signaled the market was still humming along, business as usual. Most, they said, were reluctant to course correct when the course wasn’t yet set.

The 90-day pause Trump enacted a week after “Liberation Day” seemed to prove their point, and major deals closed in the week that followed.
Amazon, for one, signed on for 330,000 square feet at 10 Bryant Park, marking one of the largest Midtown office leases since the pandemic started. JPMorgan Chase grew its space at 560 Mission Street in San Francisco by 65,000 square feet this week.