PATRICK'S QUICK ANSWER
San Antonio's commercial market is steady but split. Office vacancy sits in the mid-to-high teens at 16.8% with asking rents near $27.94 per square foot (Cushman & Wakefield, Q3 2025), while the Medical Center and northwest trophy buildings are the strong pocket. Industrial vacancy is about 9.8% with rents near $8.40 per square foot, and Port San Antonio is the standout submarket. Commercial trends matter to home buyers because jobs and rooftops follow each other. Ask Patrick how commercial trends affect your area.
San Antonio's commercial real estate market is described as steady with demand-and-oversupply dynamics, a renter's market in office and industrial space after heavy construction, per the San Antonio Report. Office vacancy is 16.8% with asking rents around $27.94 per square foot full-service (Cushman & Wakefield, Q3 2025).
For home buyers the signal is simple: commercial submarkets with growing employment, like the Medical Center, Port San Antonio, and the northwest corridor, are the areas where housing demand follows.
The office market: steady with a strong northwest pocket
Overall office vacancy is 16.8% with asking rents around $27.92 to $27.94 per square foot full-service, up about 14.6% year over year (Cushman & Wakefield, Q3 to Q4 2025, via Partners Real Estate). Absorption has been choppy, negative in the first half of 2025 and positive in the third and fourth quarters.
The strongest office submarket is the Medical Center and northwest corridor along I-10, Stone Oak, and La Cantera near UTSA, where trophy Class A vacancy runs about 8% to 12% and rents run $32 to $48 per square foot, per Matthews' Q2 2026 medical office report. Medical office leasing is concentrating along Loop 1604 and I-10.
The softer pockets are the airport corridor, at roughly 20.4% vacancy with rents near $29.19 per square foot (Partners Real Estate, 2024), and older downtown Class B space. Downtown faces a headwind as AT&T relocates from downtown to northwest San Antonio in 2026, cutting a 400,000-square-foot footprint, per Partners.
The industrial market: oversupplied but supported
Industrial vacancy climbed about 120 basis points year over year to roughly 9.8%, with asking rents around $8.40 per square foot NNN, per Partners Real Estate. Warehouse and distribution drive demand, and new supply concentrates along the I-35 south corridor and the South Side.
What it means: the industrial oversupply is a renter's market for warehouse space, but the sector is structurally supported by e-commerce, Toyota's manufacturing and supplier base, and the aerospace maintenance cluster at Port San Antonio, so the employment base stays solid.
Port San Antonio: the standout submarket
Port San Antonio, the 1,900-acre former Kelly Air Force Base, has redeveloped about 15 million square feet of facilities and anchors an aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul cluster with 7,000-plus workers and 80-plus tenants, per the San Antonio Report.
Its economic impact grew from about $4 billion to $9 billion over 2015 to 2025, per the San Antonio Report, and it offers roughly 360 air-served acres for hangars and build-to-suit projects. Brooks, the nearby former Brooks Air Force Base, has also delivered new office spec space.
The real-world play: Port San Antonio and Brooks are the south side's job engines, and the housing demand they create is why the south side keeps appearing on buyer lists. If you work there, the commute math favors the south side and the I-35 corridor.
Downtown versus the suburbs
Downtown San Antonio's office market is bifurcated: the CBD vacancy improved more than 150 basis points in 2025, but the district still faced the steepest negative absorption as tenants consolidated, per Partners Real Estate.
The consequence: suburban trophy space near the Medical Center and northwest corridor commands the premium rents, while downtown competes on amenity and transit access. For a buyer, the pattern is the same one you see in housing, the strongest demand is in the northwest and Medical Center corridors.
What commercial trends mean for home buyers
Commercial real estate is the leading indicator for housing. Where employers expand, renters and buyers follow, and where offices sit empty, nearby housing demand softens.
The money angle: the Medical Center, Port San Antonio, and the northwest corridor are the employment anchors to watch. Homes within a reasonable commute of those job centers hold demand better than homes near shrinking employment, all else equal.
How to check the commercial picture for a specific area
You can verify the employment and development picture for any San Antonio area with public sources.
Check the City of San Antonio's Development Services permit portal for new commercial permits near the address, and check the employer pages of the big anchors, including the University Health and Methodist systems in the Medical Center and Port San Antonio's tenant list. For vacancy and rent data, the quarterly market reports from Partners Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield are the named sources.
Check by address: the commute and the job center that serves it are what matter for your home value, so ask your agent to map the address against the major employment corridors before you buy.
Ask Patrick about San Antonio commercial trends
Get a straight answer on how employment and development affect the home you want.
