The surge in remote work, and a decline in demand for office space, during the COVID-19 pandemic has apparently wiped an estimated $453 billion off commercial real-estate value. That’s not good news for investors and pension funds relying on the value of these buildings.
The US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) – a nonprofit, non-government org – came up with the figure, and is predicting what it calls an “office real estate apocalypse.” While it focused its work on New York City, data from 105 office markets throughout America between 2000 and 2022 was included in a report this fall.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, 95 percent of office space was occupied in the US, according to the bureau. By the end of March 2020, occupancy dropped to 10 percent, it said. As of only a couple weeks ago, the NBER said office occupancy is still only at 47 percent.
R&I – FS
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/remote_work_real_estate_values/