New York & Tri-State + Midtown New York + Office | February 23, 2023

New York Leads Major Cities in Office Demand Recovery

New York City has regained almost 50% of its initial pandemic decline in new demand for office space, with Los Angeles coming in second at 40% recovery, VTS reported. At the other end of the spectrum, San Francisco has seen the smallest recovery at 25%, as well as the biggest year-over-year decline. New York’s strong presence of more traditional sectors that favor onsite work may give it an edge over tech-centric San Francisco, according to VTS.

Nationally, demand for new office space has recovered 35.7% of its initial decline at the onset of the pandemic and is just under half the 2018-2019 average. January’s new demand was unchanged from December 2022.

“While January was a relatively quiet month both nationally and locally, it’s encouraging to see some momentum in a return to on-site vs. remote work for companies across the country,” said Nick Romito, CEO of VTS. “January is generally a time for companies to reevaluate strategies before ramping up in February and March. It will be interesting to see if momentum continues to build for more on-site work and for the leasing market.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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