Why Some Companies Won in Austin in 2025—and Others Didn’t

For small and midsize companies, the hardest part of an Austin move is making the numbers work—without turning the relocation into a drawn-out, cash-burning science project.

In 2025, a handful of high-profile headquarters announcements grabbed headlines. But the more instructive story for 2026 planners lived in the fine print: leases structured for flexibility, footprints calibrated to hybrid work realities, and incentive applications treated like underwriting—not a nice-to-have.

Here’s what the best 2025 relocations implicitly taught—and the benchmarks 2026 movers should use to stay honest.

Austin’s office market, for example, ended 2025 with 29.0% availability and an overall vacancy rate of 25.0%—high by historical standards, but moving in a direction that matters to occupiers. Availability fell from its prior peak, while asking rates continued edging up, with overall gross asking rent around $48.90/SF (full service, gross) in Q4 2025.

That combination—elevated supply, but improving absorption—creates a narrow sweet spot for 2026 tenants: there’s negotiating leverage, but it’s easier to lose it if your requirements are vague or your timeline slips. CBRE also noted that more than 112 tenants were actively searching for over 4.5 million SF in the market as of December 2025, a signal that “wait-and-see” can quickly become “missed it.”

Industrial tells a different story—one that’s even more useful for operators who need space that actually functions(storage, service bays, light assembly, fulfillment). Cushman & Wakefield reported Austin industrial vacancy at 21.9% in Q4 2025, driven by deliveries that outpaced demand: 1.7 million SF delivered in Q4 and 8.1 million SF delivered in 2025, with 3.8 million SF still under construction—conditions they said could keep vacancy elevated through 2026. Their reported net asking rent was $11.86/SF.

In other words: 2026 may be a better year to negotiate industrial terms than to find “perfect” space.

So what did successful 2025 movers do—beyond picking Austin?

They treated the relocation as a corporate operating decision, not a real estate decision. PEAK6, for instance, announced its global headquarters move to Austin effective Jan. 1, 2025—explicitly building on an Austin office it had already established years earlier. The operational logic matters: relocations are smoother when the market entry happens before the big “HQ” label does.

They aligned their footprint with how people actually work. Routeware’s December 2025 announcement framed Austin as corporate headquarters for what had been a remote-first organization—less about packing desks and more about creating a collaboration anchor. For SMBs, the parallel is straightforward: don’t overpay for a seating plan you won’t use. Pay for the workflows you can’t do remotely—training, client experience, production, dispatch, or leadership cadence.

They used Austin as a growth narrative, then backed it with execution. Realtor.com’s February 2025 headquarters announcement positioned Austin as the company’s new HQ as part of a strategic shift. You don’t need national press to apply the same playbook: if the relocation is tied to hiring, partnerships, or market access, your lease should match that ambition (expansion rights, renewal controls, TI structure, and a timeline that doesn’t choke your launch).

That last point—timeline—is where 2026 relocations most often fail. Companies negotiate rent like pros and then underestimate the “dark matter” of moving: permitting, build-out lead times, IT cutovers, signage, inspections, hiring ramp, vendor onboarding, and the operational dip that hits when leadership is split between the old site and the new one. In CBRE’s Q4 2025 office report, the narrative is clear: demand is returning, the construction pipeline is thinning, and availability is already trending down. In a tightening environment, delays cost leverage.

There’s also a uniquely Austin lever many SMBs underuse: incentives, when they qualify. The City of Austin’s Business Expansion Program includes a small business category for businesses with 100 employees or less, requiring a 10% increase in full-time employment with a minimum of one new full-time job, among other eligibility criteria. The key is sequencing: incentives are easiest to win when you design the relocation plan to qualify before you sign and spend, not after.

If you’re heading to the Austin area in 2026, the practical takeaway from 2025 is not “Austin is hot.” You already know that. The takeaway is that Austin rewards companies that show up with: (1) a clear operating model, (2) a submarket thesis grounded in labor and logistics, (3) a deal structure built for optionality, and (4) a launch plan that starts with your go-live date and works backward.

How we help (and what to do next): If you tell us your industry, headcount, and ideal go-live window, we’ll map a relocation plan that ties together site selection, occupancy economics, and a timeline you can actually execute.