Insight Office Nordics Spring 2026

• Selective investment recovery: Nordic office investment moved beyond stabilisation into a more selective upswing, totalling €7.6bn in 2025 (+15% YoY) and representing 23% of the total Nordic transaction market—but liquidity is still concentrated.

• Flight to quality persists: Across the Nordics, office occupier markets remain clearly polarised, with demand continuing to concentrate in prime CBD locations and modern, ESG-compliant buildings, while secondary stock is more reliant on incentives and repositioning.

• Prime yields stable, secondary pressured: Pricing continues to reflect a two-speed market where prime assets hold up better than the rest—prime yields are shown as broadly stable in core locations.

Investment market

The Stockholm office investment market demonstrated stability in 2025, with total transaction volumes reaching just over SEK 25 billion, marginally lower than 2024 levels. Despite this slight decline, Stockholm captured over 70 percent of Sweden's total office transaction value, underscoring the capital's continued dominance in the national market. A clear trend of domestic capital dominance emerged on the buy-side, with very few foreign investors—KLP's purchase of Fleming 7 on Kungsholmen from Barings for approximately SEK 1.5 billion is a rare example. Conversely, multiple foreign actors featured as sellers, indicating a continued net divestment pattern from international investors in the Swedish office market at the same time as local institutional buyers increase their presence.

Tenant market

Stockholm’s office leasing market closed 2025 with overall vacancy at almost 16 percent, reflecting continued availability in several non-core submarkets and elevated space churn. In contrast to Gothenburg and Malmö, the Stockholm CBD remains the clear outperformer: vacancy is below the market average and has also shown greater resilience historically. This helps prime space in the best locations retain stronger leasing momentum, while incentives and fit-out contributions are likely to play a larger role elsewhere. Prime CBD rents held at SEK 9,500 per square metre per year, with top deals at SEK 12,000 and a median new CBD contract at SEK 8,200.

During the second half of 2025, leasing was anchored by large, institutionally backed occupiers, exemplified by Socialstyrelsen in Solna/Sundbyberg. The second half of the year also showed continued demand in the inner city from public and mission-critical functions, such as Polismyndigheten and SOS Alarm in Rest of Inner City. 2026 started with a record lease announcement as Castellum signed a 15-year lease agreement with Ericsson for approximately 24,000 square metres in Infinity in Hagastaden, Stockholm. From a labour market perspective, the prominence of governmentrelated tenants provides stability, but private-sector hiring caution means many occupiers are still optimising footprint and quality rather than expanding headcount. Take-up in relation to the total stock was slightly more than 4 percent in the region in 2025, rising to nearly 6 percent in CBD, while net absorption remained negative, indicating that right-sizing pressures are still present, even as the CBD holds up better than the broader market.

Outlook

While vacancies remain elevated at a market-wide level, new supply is moderate, rather than excessive. Office space under production totals approximately 240,000 square metres today, with around half already pre-leased. Total additions represent a minor 0.7 percent of the stock per annum, which help prevent oversupply as the market adapts. Structural constraints on development in the CBD further limit supply risk in the strongest locations.

Near-term leasing conditions are, therefore, expected to remain tenantfriendly outside the most central locations, where competition from both new and second-hand space will persist. In contrast, the CBD should continue to benefit from limited supply, strong agglomeration effects and sustained demand from knowledge-intensive occupiers. Overall, leasing momentum will remain closely linked to labour-market developments, with absorption likely to be driven more by relocations and quality upgrades than by net employment growth in the near term.

Investment market

The Gothenburg office investment market experienced weakness in 2025, with very few office transactions recorded. Despite 26 total property deals in the region, offices were largely avoided by investors, with only a single minor transaction conducted in the second half of the year. Investment capital instead concentrated heavily on industrial and logistics assets alongside residential properties, which together accounted for 21 of the 26 total transactions. This sectoral preference reflects investors' pivot away from office fundamentals toward asset classes offering stronger structural growth drivers.

Tenant market

Gothenburg’s office leasing market ended 2025 with overall vacancy at just over 13 percent, with conditions clearly uneven across submarkets. A key nuance is that the CBD is materially looser than the regional average, meaning the core currently carries a larger share of available space than would typically be expected for an outperforming CBD. Leasing activity softened during 2025, with take-up of approximately 130,000 square metres, down from 2024.

Even in a softer year, the CBD remained the demand anchor, accounting for roughly 50,000 square metres (c. 38 percent) of rolling 12-month take-up. Leasing in the second half of 2025 demonstrates that demand remains intact when the right product is offered, with both Göteborgs stad and Västra Götalandsregionen signing in the CBD. In total, five of the eight largest announced leases during 2025 were CBD-based, highlighting the area’s continued importance, despite elevated vacancy. This trend continues as early 2026 saw Jernhusen announce its first lease agreement for Grand Central with Ramboll signing for 2,700 square metres with move-in scheduled for August 2027. This demand, however, is being met by new supply coming to the market and by tenants vacating or consolidating space, keeping overall vacancy high.

Outlook

Although 2025 and 2026 represents a slower phase in new office projects, the development pipeline, concentrated in central Gothenburg, will yet again be rather material in 2027. Vacancy is likely to remain elevated as 85,000 square metres are added to the CBD during the coming 24 months, keeping tenant choice high and supporting continued reliance on incentives for secondary buildings. With the labour market more cautious and hiring decisions more selective, we expect leasing to remain driven more by relocations, consolidation and 'flight to quality' than broad-based expansion, keeping incentives most relevant for older secondary buildings.

Investment market

The Malmö office investment market was dominated by a single transaction in 2025, with Wihlborgs' portfolio acquisition from Granitor for SEK 2.4 billion in early 2025 representing the only notable office deal of the year. This transaction alone accounted for over 30 percent of the very limited investment volumes recorded across the Malmö/ Lund region. Despite offices capturing a substantial share of activity by value, the overall market remained constrained, with just 13 total transactions recorded across all property segments in the Malmö/Lund area throughout 2025.

Tenant market

Malmö’s office leasing market ended 2025 with overall vacancy at almost 16 percent, keeping the market competitive. Activity continues to concentrate in the main hubs—CBD, Västra Hamnen and Hyllie— where occupiers value modern specifications and strong transport links. Examples in the second half of the year include NP Innovation signing in Hyllie and Media Evolution committing to space in Västra Hamnen, highlighting sustained momentum in newer, well-branded districts. Sydvatten also leased space in Hyllie, reinforcing the role of public/ essential-service employers as a stabiliser when the labour market is more cautious. Prime rents have shown some upward momentum here over the past year (albeit from a low base), while secondary space remains more exposed to incentives and landlord-led upgrades. With vacancy still elevated, many leasing decisions are being framed around total occupancy cost, commute patterns and workplace experience, rather than simply maximising area.

Outlook

There are two major ongoing office developments in Malmö, both in Hyllie, and two more in Lund. While these additions are not large enough to materially shift regional supply, leasing competition is likely to remain elevated locally until new space is absorbed. Although employment growth remains subdued, recent momentum is stronger than over the past two years, providing some support to leasing activity. Tenant preference is expected to remain focused on efficient, flexible offices that support recruitment and collaboration, while older buildings will increasingly need repositioning to stay relevant.

Investment market

In 2025, transaction volume reached €221 million, an 80 percent increase from €123 million in 2024, but still significantly below 2023 and 2022 levels. Transactions in this segment remain limited; the largest office transaction in 2025 was HGR Property Partners’ sale of a developed property to PPI for €79 million. Prime yield expanded to 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and is expected to face further upward pressure over the next 12 months. A few opportunistic transactions occurred at prices of €300–600 per square metre, essentially reflecting development rights plus demolition costs. The office segment remains polarised, with investors almost exclusively interested in prime CBD assets and, selectively, other core submarkets. We expect activity to remain broadly in line with 2025.

Tenant market

The Finnish office tenant market ended 2025 with vacancy rates at record highs, reflecting ongoing structural change and a clear polarisation between prime and secondary assets. As of the last quarter of 2025, the overall office vacancy rate in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA) exceeds 17.3 percent. Submarket differences are pronounced: Pasila (10.6 percent) and Hakaniemi (11.7 percent) have the lowest vacancy rates, while Pitäjänmäki (28.5 percent) and Sörnäinen (27.5 percent) face the highest. Net absorption for the HMA was negative (-6,829 square metres), indicating continued weak demand and ongoing space reductions by tenants. However, the CBD vacancy rate of 18.3 percent largely reflects the volume of properties under development, rather than low demand.

Tenant demand is highly selective, with a clear preference for modern, ESG-compliant space in prime locations with good public transport. Larger corporates continue to optimise their office footprint, but the pace of downsizing has moderated, especially among smaller tenants with shorter lease maturities. Public sector organisations have announced return-to-office requirements, supporting long-term occupancy levels.

Rental levels for prime offices have remained stable, with the CBD at €48.50 per square metre per month in the fourth quarter of 2025. Incentives remain elevated, as landlords compete for high-quality tenants. The pipeline of new completions is limited, which is gradually helping to reduce oversupply, but the effect is moderate, given current vacancy levels.

Outlook

In 2026, the Finnish office tenant market is expected to remain polarised. Demand will continue to concentrate on the CBD and the best-performing submarkets, such as the SBD, Pasila and Keilaniemi, and on Grade A, ESG-compliant assets in prime locations, while secondary and peripheral properties will face ongoing challenges with high vacancy and rental pressure. The overall vacancy rate is likely to remain elevated, but prime segment vacancies should stay stable or decline slightly as new supply remains limited and return-to-office policies support occupancy. Rental growth in the CBD is forecast to be modest but positive, with prime rents expected to hold steady, while incentives may gradually decrease as market confidence returns. Tenant requirements for sustainability, energy efficiency and flexibility will intensify, with green leases and shared landlord–tenant responsibility for ESG performance becoming the norm.

Investment market

Office properties were the most traded segment in Oslo during 2025, largely driven by the merger between Aspelin Eiendom and Reitan Eiendom, with a transaction value of approximately NOK 19 billion. Excluding this merger, office transactions accounted for around 19 percent of total investment volume, well below the 10-year average of 42 percent, reflecting subdued underlying investment activity in the office segment. Despite lower transaction volumes outside the merger, interest in prime office assets in central Oslo has remained stable, supported by pension funds with available capital seeking core, high-quality properties. Prime yields have remained unchanged at around 4.50 percent in the CBD and 5.50 percent in fringe areas.

Tenant market

Leasing activity in the second half of 2025 picked up, compared to the weak levels seen in 2024. Activity has nevertheless remained moderate, reflecting subdued demand for office space. The tenant market remains cautious, reflecting macroeconomic uncertainty and a lack of employment growth, particularly in Oslo. In addition, we experience increased downsizing among office tenants, and more companies report that they expect to reduce office space per employee going forward. Overall, office vacancy in Oslo has continued to increase slightly to 6.8 percent and is now in line with the historical average of around 7 percent. At the same time, vacancy in best-quality buildings has declined somewhat, pointing to a clearer divide in the office market. Demand is particularly strong for centrally located offices, and the 'flight-to-quality' trend persists, with occupiers prioritising prime locations to enhance employer attractiveness. Following several years of strong rental growth, rents stabilised in 2025. Prime office rents in the Vika- Aker Brygge area currently stand at around NOK 6,400 per square metre, up from NOK 6,300 at the start of 2024. Looking ahead, rental levels are expected to remain broadly stable.

The second half of 2025 has, nevertheless, seen some notable lettings:

• RSM (acquired by Cedra Norge) securing its new headquarters in the newly developed Kirkegata 20, comprising 5,300 square metres
• Statens Pensjonskasse renegotiating its lease of approximately 8,000 square metres
• Galleon Embedded Computing signing a lease for approximately 2,300 square metres at Verkstedveien 3
   

Outlook

In the short term, continued macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty is expected to limit risk appetite and delay decision-making among both tenants and investors. Over the longer term, a relatively tight supply side, combined with a higher volume of lease expires in the coming years, are expected to support broadly stable rental levels, with demand and investor interest remaining focused on well-located, high-quality assets.