For lease signs are posted on the windows of office buildings in downtown Portland.

Real estate market experts reported that Portland’s central city had the highest vacancy rate for office space at the end of 2023 compared to other downtown areas.

Colliers published its latest research on commercial real estate trends in March. The Portland-based real estate firm found that 30.2% of offices in the central business district were vacant late last year, with about 2.4 million square feet of office space open for subleasing.

Although slowing construction could help with Portland’s oversupply of office space, Colliers expects the demand to be negative through 2025.

According to the real estate firm, 57% of leasing activity happened outside of the central city in 2023. The market experts also reported that more than 4.2 million square feet of office leases will expire within the next five years, and the current tenants are likely to downsize instead of renewing — pointing to another down year for downtown.

KOIN News 6 is a news partner of the Pamplin Media Group. Their full story can be found at koin.com.