Raleigh Office Market Report

Raleigh ends 2024 among the top 10 U.S. metros with greatest gain in occupied stock. Exiting 2024 with over 1.6 million square feet of net absorption, the market enters 2025 poised for further tightening. Only 200,000 square feet of new office space is slated to deliver this year — the smallest pipeline since at least 2007. Half of submarkets reported annual declines in vacancy last year, signaling a broad-based uptick in demand. Proposed developments continue shifting to West Wake County, drawn by proximity to the Research Triangle Park. The metro’s population growing by 3 percent last year, fueled by Duke and UNC Chapel Hill retaining graduates, should make the region attractive to major employers. Even as Apple’s planned campus and other major projects face extended timelines, life sciences expansions like Novo Nordisk’s are expected to sustain the flight-to-quality trend, as firms favor amenitized offices amid hybrid work conditions.