Tampa, Florida's office sector is off to an impressive start to the year from a demand perspective. Net absorption in the first quarter totaled a positive 6,170 square feet, which was quite the turnaround from the -268,785 square feet seen in the same period in 2025, a new market report from Colliers finds.
"Absorption is being driven by renewals and flight to quality trend rather than broad-based net new demand in the market," Colliers said.
Rents advanced by over $1 per square foot year-over-year to $28.72. Particularly, tenants are chasing trophy assets, with prices now surging past $50 per square foot across top-tier properties, according to Colliers.
Meanwhile, vacancy spiked in Tampa by 70 basis points to 16 percent. That came as no new deliveries or even a construction project started in the first quarter.
"New office development remains difficult without significant pre-leasing due to construction costs, insurance, and operating expense uncertainty, as extended lease-up periods reflect tenant selectivity and a lack of large contiguous Class A blocks constrain corporate relocations and expansions," Colliers said.
Overall nationally, geopolitical uncertainty and inflation are leading to caution for investments. However, Tampa does hold some advantages with the metro dominating in job and population growth and the statewide removal of a sales tax on commercial leases that took effect in October of 2025.
NinjaOne struck the top office lease in Tampa during the first quarter, with its 43,400 square foot signing at 5201 W Kennedy Blvd. The firm was followed by AVI-SPL and The Fay Group, which took 36,757 and 30,000 square feet of space, respectively, in their lease deals.
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