While total office leasing remains 34% below pre-COVID levels, activity is up more than 50% from the lowest point observed during the COVID crisis, back in 2020. Pre-COVID average quarterly leasing volume totaled around 59 million square feet since 2016, according to a new analysis from JLL, while last quarter's figures clocked in just shy of 40 million square feet.

The US office market has also recorded three consecutive quarters of leasing volume growth, led by five Big Tech companies that have expanded their footprint by a collective 9 million square feet since the onset of the pandemic.

Sun Belt markets continue to outperform gateway cities, according to JLL, which tracked a 30% performance difference between Sun Belt cities and other large markets. The former have benefited from expansionary leasing activity that's been concentrated on hub-and-spoke models, and JLL experts say labor availability and cost-of-living factors are now key for tenant site selection plans.