Bellevue office buildings shed $1.61 billion in value as vacancy rate surges

Downtown Bellevue’s office market has taken a substantial hit over the last four years, with soaring vacancy rates dragging property values down by more than a billion dollars.

Office buildings in downtown Bellevue lost $1.61 billion in valuation between 2022 and 2025, while property value declined 19%, from $8.52 billion to $6.9 billion, according to King County Assessor data reported by The Puget Sound Business Journal. Office vacancy rates increased from 3.3% in 2019 to 23.2% in 2026, according to Broderick Group.

“Uncertainty of any kind creates paralysis, and paralysis creates falling valuation,” Bellevue Chamber of Commerce CEO Joe Fain told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “Unless things are turning over, unless folks are actively looking, unless folks have the confidence that they can take risks on investments, then you see decline.”

The decline happened as seven new office buildings opened in downtown Bellevue, including The Eight tower, which opened in 2023 and cost $476 million.

Several major properties are also changing hands. Microsoft, once the city’s largest employer, let its lease expire, and Schnitzer West is now looking to buy the property it originally sold for $410 million in 2010. Vulcan Real Estate is negotiating a deal to sell its Amazon-leased 17-story tower, and Bellevue Plaza East, a 158,000-square-foot building that last sold for $75 million in 2015, is also on the market, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Seattle leads nation in office vacancy rates

Meanwhile, Seattle is in an even deeper hole, leading the nation in office vacancy rates at nearly 37%, The Seattle Times reported earlier this month. Downtown office spaces have lost $15 billion, which is 46% of their value, since 2020, according to data from the King County Assessor’s Office. The Seattle Times noted that after the Great Recession, downtown vacancy rates peaked at 21%, and it took the market five years to recover.

Critics have blamed the vacancies on Seattle taxes and anti-business rhetoric.

In March, King County Assessor data revealed empty office buildings in downtown Seattle were dragging down property value, with the city’s most valuable skyscrapers shown to have lost $3.7 billion in value since 2022.

Among the biggest decreases in value were the Amazon Doppler Tower and Meeting Center (62% drop), Amazon’s Day One Tower and Spheres (59% drop), the DocuSign Tower on 999 Third Street (56% drop), Amazon’s Re-Invent Towers (55% drop), and the US Bank Centre (53% drop).

Seattle’s property tax revenue fell more than $2.8 million short of projections last year.

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