Evolving demand drives Shanghai’s office leasing momentum

Leasing transactions from 2020 to Q3 2025 reveal that diversified leasing demand has long been a notable feature of the Shanghai office market. Six core industries, including financial services, professional services, TMT, manufacturing and trading, retail, and life sciences, have collectively accounted for more than 80% of total demand over the past five years. This has formed a stable and fundamental tenant base for the Shanghai office market.

Recently, certain subsectors of financial services and TMT have been driving office leasing momentum in Shanghai.

Figure 1: Share of demand by industry in Shanghai office market

Based on transaction area, 2020 to 2025Q3
Source: JLL Research

Financial services continue to be the largest source of office leasing demand. In the current market, domestic companies are more active and leverage market conditions to optimise their leasing strategies . However, by sub-sector, the leasing shares within the financial office leasing market have changed considerably. By this year, fund institutions, especially private funds, increased their share to over 25% within the financial services demand. This was driven by policy shifts and domestic rate cuts since last year, which improved market liquidity. Additionally, improvements in China’s A-share and the Hong Kong market this year increased demand for securities-related funds. Both Asset Under Management (AUM) and the number of newly registered private securities funds increased steadily.

With more new products launched, the rising number of institutions and funds pushed up demand for office leasing among fund houses. Unlike traditional insurers, banks, and even foreign funds, domestic fund companies have more flexible location preferences. They are more willing to choose emerging submarkets. As a result, demand has spilled over to areas along the Huangpu River and Suzhou River.

Figure 2: Breakdown of leasing demand in the financial services sector

           Based on transaction area, 2023 to 2025Q3
  Source: JLL Research

In the period of 2020 to Q3 2025, office leasing in Shanghai’s TMT sector unfolded in three distinct phases. In 2020–2021, the Internet technology industry expanded rapidly, with leading internet platforms driving demand through multiple large deals. In 2022–2023, tighter regulation of the Internet sector, together with an overall market slowdown curbed expansion, resulted in a decline in both the sector’s share and transaction volume. Since 2024, breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and rapid advancements in high-tech fields have revived leasing demand in the tech industry. AI has become the primary driver, while Integrated-Circuit (IC) design companies are increasingly exploring opportunities in the Grade A office market, as their design teams depend more on computing and connectivity rather than fabrication space. At the same time, demand from gaming, NEV-related technologies, and some Internet platforms has also recovered to an extent. Spatially, leasing demand from TMT companies is concentrated in the decentralised market with more “flight to quality” opportunities.

Figure 3: Breakdown of leasing demand in the TMT sector

Based on transaction area, 2020 to 2025Q3
Source: JLL Research

As Shanghai's office market continues to evolve, growth in both financial services and TMT sectors reinforces the city's position as a leading commercial centre in Asia.