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New data on office attendance suggest a shift in the remote work trend that surged during the pandemic. In-person work is gaining traction, particularly in major urban centers.
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New York City leads the nation in-office visits, with October occupancy reaching 86.2% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Placer.ai, which tracks building traffic using cellphone data. Miami follows closely at 82.6%.
In contrast, San Francisco lags significantly, with office visits at just 51.7% of pre-pandemic levels, reflecting a stronger embrace of remote work.
This emerging pattern highlights a nuanced national landscape: While cities like New York experience a robust return to physical offices, others like San Francisco maintain a stronger preference for remote arrangements.
The evolution of this trend will likely depend on local economic conditions, workplace culture and ongoing negotiations between employers and employees.
“Midtown (Manhattan) is very close to 2019 in attendance,” Bryan Park Corp. cofounder Daniel Biederman told the New York Post. “We have some tourists, but most people lunching in the park are office workers.
“Work from home is dying against all predictions.”
A desire for in-person connections doesn’t solely fuel the rise in office attendance. A key factor is employer pressure. The Placer.ai report highlights that major companies, such as Amazon, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Walmart and UPS, are “cracking down on remote work,” with some requiring employees to return to the office full-time.
The trend of stricter remote work policies has drawn positive reactions from some real estate industry leaders, who see it as a welcome return to normalcy for office spaces. However, it’s important to acknowledge the combined influence of both employer mandates and employee preferences in shaping the future of work.
While older and less desirable buildings may still face challenges, the prime office towers in areas like Sixth and Park Avenues, Hudson Yards and the World Trade Center are thriving. This is evident to anyone who works, lives or shops in these neighborhoods.
JLL Vice Chairman Joseph Messina told the Post that the rise in Class A leasing is evidenced by the trend of employers pushing for employees to work in the office four to five days per week.
“While initially seen primarily in the financial services sector, recent announcements from major tech firms are now influencing the same trend,” he said.
Bloomberg LP recently renewed and expanded its lease in real estate investment trust SL Green Realty Corp.’s building at 919 Third Ave. and Amazon appears to be planning a 300,000-square-foot expansion at 452 Fifth Ave.
“Clearly, a return-to-office mentality is bringing a lot more people back and forcing some of these existing tenants to come back into the market where they had laid off space because they thought they were going to have a more robust hybrid work environment,” SL Green Leasing Director Steven Durels said on a recent investors’ call. “And now they’re bringing the bodies back, it’s forcing them to take more space.”
