Lower Fairfield County’s office availability declined over the past year as more office buildings were removed from the market for adaptive reuse projects, according to a new report from commercial real estate brokerage Choyce Peterson.
The firm’s semiannual survey found 28% of office space was available at midyear in 90 Class A office buildings totaling 16.4 million square feet across Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich and Westport. That’s unchanged from year-end 2025 but down from 29.4% a year earlier.
Available space totaled about 4.6 million square feet at the end of June.
The report also shows Lower Fairfield County’s office inventory continues to shrink as buildings are converted to other uses. The survey now includes 90 office buildings totaling 16.4 million square feet, down from 94 buildings totaling 17.2 million square feet a year ago.
More than 1.8 million square feet of office space has been removed from the survey since mid-2024 because of planned adaptive reuse projects, according to Choyce Peterson.
John Hannigan, co-founder and principal of the Norwalk-based brokerage firm, said he expects both office availability and inventory to continue gradually declining as more buildings are converted to other uses. While the region’s overall availability rate held steady over the past six months, he said the headline figure masks differing trends across individual markets, with Stamford recording significant leasing activity while Greenwich saw several large blocks of space return to the market.
Hannigan said leasing activity also continues to be driven by companies relocating within Fairfield County. Many tenants are downsizing and seeking higher-quality office space, a trend he expects to continue over the next four to five years as long-term leases expire. At the same time, some companies that previously reduced their footprints are finding they need additional space again to accommodate growth, he said.
Among the four submarkets, Stamford recorded the strongest improvement over the past year, with its availability rate falling from 32.3% at midyear 2025 to 26.5% at midyear 2026. Greenwich’s availability increased from 13.7% to 20.2% during that period, while Norwalk’s availability edged up from 41.7% to 42.1%, the highest among the four markets. Westport remained the region’s tightest market, with availability rising slightly from 11.4% to 12.4%.
Hannigan said landlords continue to face financial pressures because rents have not increased fast enough to keep pace with higher construction and labor costs.
Charlene O’Connell, vice president at Choyce Peterson, said the market has become increasingly nuanced, with tenants often finding that the amount of move-in-ready, high-quality space is much more limited than overall availability figures suggest.
