An old industry adage suggests that all real estate is local.
An interactive commercial real estate dashboard released Monday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) bears that out, revealing wildly differing fundamentals across major U.S. metros in key metrics like net absorption, rent growth and vacancy rates.
Drawing from data through the fourth quarter of 2025, the dashboard shows that strong population growth has not yielded uniform commercial real estate results across Sun Belt metros.
In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area in Florida, demand for office space has outpaced the national average, logging a faster absorption rate. Consequently, Miami’s office rent prices rose faster than the nationwide rate, while maintaining a healthy 8.7% vacancy rate at the close of 2025.
Conversely, the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown area in Texas presents a more complicated narrative. Demand across Austin’s office, multifamily and industrial spaces was stronger than the national average, with higher rates in all three categories.
Despite these strong conditions, however, rent prices in these sectors rose slower than the national average — and vacancy rates remain higher than the nationwide benchmark. Austin’s rapid development pipeline continues to keep rent growth in check as high volumes of new supply hit the market.
The dashboard also sheds light on the nuanced nature of major coastal markets.
In the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro in California, the office sector is experiencing a unique dynamic. Demand for office space is stronger than the national baseline with faster absorption, and market rent grew by 3% over the last 12 months, outpacing the nation. However, the metro still grapples with a high office vacancy rate, which sat at 22.2% in the final quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro showcases a different set of contradictions. Demand for multifamily, retail and industrial spaces was generally weaker than nationwide, with slower absorption across these categories.
Yet, despite the weaker conditions and slower absorption, New York rent prices in both the multifamily and retail sectors rose faster than the nationwide average. In the retail sector specifically, New York maintained a tight 4.2% vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2025.
