Seattle Tenant Representation — Commercial Real Estate Brokers & Agents on Your Side

Reported figures vary noticeably by source and geography. Kidder Mathews' Seattle/Puget Sound Office Market Report for Q2 2026 put regional vacancy at 23.4% with average asking rent of $32.76/SF. CBRE's Q2 2026 Puget Sound Office Figures reported a higher total vacancy of 28.2% with average direct asking rent of $46.78/SF full-service gross — the gap reflects different vacancy definitions and rent bases, so the two shouldn't be blended. Cushman & Wakefield's Q2 2026 Seattle-Bellevue MarketBeat breaks it out further by geography: Seattle CBD vacancy runs notably higher at 35.8%, while the Puget Sound Eastside is tighter at 21.4%. A Seattle partner broker can pull current, verified asking rates for the specific submarket and building class you need.

Kidder Mathews' Seattle Retail Market Report for Q2 2026 put direct retail vacancy at 3.9% — described as near historic lows — with average asking rent of $1.95/SF. On the industrial side, Kidder's Q2 2026 Seattle Industrial Market Report put regional vacancy at 9.5% (up from 8.9% at year-end 2025) with average asking rent of $1.06/SF, and noted the market has roughly 1.96 million SF under construction, with none of the current speculative projects preleased — a caution flag on near-term oversupply. Cushman & Wakefield's Q2 2026 MarketBeat corroborates a similar range, with Seattle industrial vacancy at 9.4% and the Eastside industrial submarket tighter at 7.5%. A Seattle partner broker can provide current, verified pricing for your specific submarket and property type.

Based on 249 active TenantBase tenant searches over the past 90 days, flex/industrial leads active demand in Seattle at 46.99% (117 of 249), followed by retail/storefront at 25.70% (64 of 249), office at 18.47% (46 of 249), warehouse at 6.83% (17 of 249), and medical at 2.01% (5 of 249).

TenantBase's coverage of the Seattle area spans submarkets including Bellevue CBD, South Seattle, Kirkland, Redmond, Capitol Hill, the I-90 Corridor, and other Eastside and city neighborhoods, plus well-known local areas such as Bel-Red, North Seattle/Northgate, and the SR-405 corridor. Live tenant searches on the platform carry their own submarket tags across these areas and the surrounding Puget Sound metro.

Among the 249 active TenantBase Seattle searches tracked over the past 90 days, 3-5 year terms are the most common specified length (73 of 249, 29.3%), followed closely by leases under one year (66, 26.5%), then 2-3 year terms (41, 16.5%) and 5+ year terms (38, 15.3%), with 1-2 year terms less common (10, 4.0%); term length wasn't specified for the remaining 21 searches. A Seattle partner broker can help you weigh the right term length for your specific search and property type.

Plan on roughly 150–250 square feet per employee for a standard mixed layout: dense, open floor plans run 100–150 SF per person, while spacious or private-office-heavy layouts run 250–350 SF per person. A 10-person team typically needs about 1,500–2,500 SF. A Seattle partner broker can help you right-size before touring so you don't pay for space you won't use.

Timelines vary by property type and size, but most Seattle tenants move from initial search to signed lease in roughly 60-120 days when working with a dedicated tenant representation partner broker. The region has seen major transit investment that's reshaping access to submarkets — Sound Transit's East Link extension opened in March 2026, connecting Bellevue CBD and the Eastside directly to downtown Seattle and points north, and the Federal Way Link Extension has since brought light rail service further south along the I-5 corridor. Downtown, the completed Seattle Waterfront Park redevelopment and continued life-sciences lab conversions in South Lake Union are also worth knowing about if your search touches those areas.

A Seattle tenant representation broker works exclusively for a business searching for commercial space — surveying the local market, touring options, and negotiating lease terms on the tenant's behalf, rather than the landlord's. This is different from a listing agent, who represents the landlord and is focused on leasing one specific building; a tenant rep has no incentive to favor any one property.

The fastest way is to work with a Seattle tenant rep who already tracks available office inventory across the metro's active submarkets — Bellevue CBD, Kirkland, and Redmond among them — they can surface options that fit your size, budget, and timeline faster than searching listings alone.

You're not required to use one, but a tenant representation broker works exclusively for you — not the landlord — and typically costs you nothing, since landlords already budget for the leasing commission. TenantBase connects you with a Seattle partner broker who handles tours, comparisons, and negotiation on your behalf at no cost.

Yes. Tenant representation typically does not have a direct cost to the business — brokers are compensated by the landlord at lease signing, so working with a TenantBase partner broker is free for the tenant.

TenantBase is a technology platform built for commercial tenants. It pairs a searchable, broker-sourced database of office, retail, industrial, warehouse, and medical space with a network of independently licensed local partner brokers — you browse available Seattle space by property type and submarket, get matched with a local partner broker, tour the spaces that fit, and get support through negotiation and signing, all at no cost to the tenant.