Kansas City Office Market Report

Kansas City opens 2023 with another challenging first quarter. From January through March of this year, a net of roughly 825,000 square feet returned to the market, after 750,000 square feet of negative net absorption was recorded during the same span of 2022. Last year, Kansas City found solid ground after that difficult stretch, with vacancy largely unchanged across the final nine months. That pattern is unlikely to be repeated during 2023. National economic headwinds will further strain demand for office space, at a time when pre-pandemic leases are expiring, and the sector recalibrates to new preferences. As a result, Kansas City’s vacant office stock total is expected to grow by an additional 1.4 million square feet across the final three quarters of 2023. Contrary to most other major markets, suburban performance is being tested more so than downtown, with urban core vacancy contracting over the past year.