Trump Considers Selling Most Government-Owned Real Estate

The Trump administration is weighing the sale of two-thirds of the federal government's office supply to the private sector, according to people familiar with the plan, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The General Services Administration, the federal agency that owns, manages and leases much of the government's real estate, controls and takes care of a very large number of federal buildings — a total of 370 million square feet around the country.

But a lack of funding has led to many of these buildings being poorly maintained and are sitting empty or underused, the GSA testified before Congress in 2023.

The Trump administration plan under consideration would also cancel some three-quarters of the 70 million square feet of office space the GSA leases from private landlords in D.C., Don Peebles, a longtime Washington, D.C.-based developer, told The Washington Post.

A significant increase in GSA canceled leases would pressure D.C. landlords, many of whom depend on the GSA as an anchor tenant.

A GSA spokeswoman said that the "GSA continues to work to right-size the federal portfolio, and is committed to optimizing space in federal buildings," adding that the GSA could further accelerate these efforts with funding from Congress.

Already, the GSA has also been trying to reduce the real estate it owns as more of its buildings deteriorate from a lack of maintenance.

But such a move is not an easy task, according to The Washington Post. Among other complications, before auctioning off any properties, the GSA has to usually make them available free or at a reduced cost to government entities.

Peebles added that much of what the GSA can sell will likely be at fire-sale prices, which could also bring down the worth of other D.C. office buildings. To make matters worse, the overall market has already gone down significantly in value in recent years.

"Buildings will sell for 30 cents on the dollar," Peebles said. "It's a paradigm shift. There will be a dramatic reset on property values."

• Office Space Epiphany Redeems Sen. Ernst
• Fed Remote Work Policies Spark Vacant Office Probe