Notwithstanding a newly released global occupier survey which found that 50% of large multinationals plan to decrease their office space, JLL CEO and president Christian Ulbrich said “the worst is behind us” for office vacancies and space utilization. 

Speaking on CNBC’s Last Call, Ulbrich turned the widely reported 50% figure from Knight Frank on its head. “That leaves another 50% which will probably increase, or stay the same,” he said.  

Ulbrich cited JLL’s hometown of Chicago as a case in point. Although its downtown was slower to recover in office use and pedestrian traffic, in recent months it has made considerable progress and is now among the top U.S. cities for occupancy. 

Asked about the disparity between U.S. return-to-office rates and those in European countries, Ulbrich cited “a cultural element” as one factor. Some U.S. CBDs either recovered quickly or never emptied out due to the pandemic, while others, such as San Francisco, have taken longer.  

Overseas, the size of an office employee’s living space—i.e., whether it’s comfortable to work in a small apartment—factors into the decision of whether to work from home or go back to the office, Ulbrich pointed out.