So far the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has terminated 748 leases, resulting in what it says is an annual savings of nearly $268.7 million and freeing up almost 9.6 million square feet of space.
While impressive on paper, this initiative reveals a complex landscape of government real estate management when examined more closely.
The average figures include $359,161 in annual lease payments per location, or $28.02 per square foot. However, a deeper analysis uncovers a range of anomalies and extreme variations that call for closer scrutiny.
For instance, the data includes peculiarities such as leases without listed square footage or agency information, and spaces as small as 115 square feet – hardly larger than a bedroom – raising questions about the practical use of such diminutive government offices.
At one end, the data reveals surprisingly inexpensive leases. Some locations were secured for less than $10 per square foot, with notable examples including a National Archives facility in Fairfield, Ohio at a mere $3.84 per square foot, and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration site in Idaho Falls, Idaho at $5.10 per square foot.
These figures starkly contrast to the most expensive spaces, such as a Secret Service location in New York City, commanding $252 per square foot.
The scale of the leases varies dramatically as well. The largest, both in size and cost, belongs to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C., spanning 845,389 square feet with an annual lease fee of $26,357,330. This dwarfs many other leases, including the second-largest for the Federal Trade Commission, also in D.C., at $11,466,505 for 259,130 square feet.
An analysis by CoStar, drawing from multiple data sources, provides context to these terminations. The canceled leases represent approximately one-tenth of active federal commercial real estate leases, with terminations occurring across all 50 states, including Native American reservations and most U.S. territories. Notably, about 89% of the listed terminations had reached their scheduled end date, while only 22 leases were terminated before expiration.