HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Real Estate Alert’s Deal Database ranks Houston as the third busiest market for office building sales in the first half of this year.

Ranked based on dollar volume and number of deals, the city came in just behind New York and Los Angeles.

There were 17 property transactions totaling nearly $2 billion, up from 13 sales totaling $981.4 million during the same period last year.

Rounding out the top five were Seattle and San Jose/Silicon Valley.