Fort Worth's Office Market Shows Cautious Recovery
The Fort Worth office market saw positive absorption in the second half of 2025 for the first time since 2019, indicating a potential stabilization after record vacancies. A panel on the Fort Worth Roots Podcast noted that demand is now concentrated in high-quality, amenity-rich properties. The lasting impact of remote work is stark, with net office space absorption per job plummeting from 181 sq ft pre-2020 to just 38 sq ft.
- The broader Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) office market, including Fort Worth, recorded 2.2 million square feet of positive net absorption in 2025, the strongest performance for the region since 2019. Class A properties drove this recovery, accounting for 2.7 million square feet of absorption during the year. - This "flight to quality" has created a starkly divided market; by the end of 2025, overall vacancy in DFW was around 24.7%, but trophy properties commanded rents as high as $63.66 per square foot, a 10.6% annual increase. In contrast, Class B properties saw occupancy decline by 1.1% year-over-year. - Fort Worth's Central Business District has one of the healthiest office submarkets in the metroplex, with a vacancy rate under 9% in 2025, significantly lower than the regional average. However, this has led to a shortage of large, contiguous Class A spaces, with only a handful of buildings able to accommodate tenants needing 40,000 or more square feet. - Major corporate moves are shaping the market, including JPMorgan Chase anchoring a new 170,000-square-foot tower in the Cultural District, which is set for completion in early 2027. In one of the decade's largest deals, defense contractor Lockheed Martin renewed its 455,400-square-foot lease in a Class B property in North Fort Worth, bucking the flight-to-quality trend. - The region's economic development is robust, providing a strong foundation for the office market. In the two years leading up to late 2025, the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership helped secure nearly $10 billion in new capital investment and create over 11,000 jobs. - Looking ahead, the pipeline for new office construction is at its lowest point in a decade, with just over 2 million square feet underway across DFW, 69% of which is already pre-leased. This reduction in speculative development is expected to help the market gradually absorb existing vacant space. - In a sign of adaptation for older buildings, a 16-story, 30,000-square-foot office tower in downtown Fort Worth is being converted into 300 apartments, with the project slated for completion by the end of August 2025.
