Cleveland Real Estate Market Reports

Cleveland Office Market

Cleveland’s office market is still weak but has stabilized somewhat, with elevated vacancy, intermittent negative absorption, and virtually no new supply over the past year-plus. Over the last decade vacancy has drifted upward from the mid‑teens to low‑20% range, indicating a structural softening in demand relative to inventory. Leasing activity in the first quarter of 2026 totaled 489,245 SF, up from both the prior quarter and first quarter 2025 and exceeding three of 2025’s four quarters. This volume, however, remained below the 17‑year average first‑quarter level of roughly 634,000 SF. Conditions appear relatively stable, with most recent leases under 10,000 SF. The Cleveland office market’s quarterly total overall average asking rental rate increased by $0.10/SF quarter-over-quarter to $21.74/SF. As a result, the year-to-date 2026 total was higher than the final 2025 average asking rent total of $21.27/SF. If the current ~2–3% growth band persists, effective rents will be heavily dependent on concessions and free rent rather than headline rate movement.

Cleveland Industrial Market

The Cleveland industrial market posted 602,817 SF of positive absorption in the first quarter of 2026, its second consecutive quarter of gains following five consecutive quarters of negative absorption. Cleveland’s industrial leasing activity increased from 1.1 million SF in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 1.5 million SF in the first quarter of 2026, reversing two consecutive quarters of decline. Only 104,862 SF of new product delivered during the quarter, aligning with the recent improvement in net absorption as construction activity has slowed. The vacancy rate decreased by 10 basis points to 6.3% in the first quarter, down from the fourth quarter of 2025. The first quarter saw a direct average asking rent of $6.13/SF, which was up by $0.15/SF from the previous quarter’s total, and above the yearly 2025 average of $5.95/SF.