Five years after the pandemic shifted work habits, pedestrians in New York City’s office buildings have largely bounced back from the “working from home” trend. Recent data highlights this recovery.
In April, visits to office buildings were just 5.5% lower than in April 2019, according to the insights from Placer.ai. This positions New York City as the frontrunner in the nation’s return-to-office landscape.
Other major U.S. cities also saw an increase in office attendance compared to previous months; however, the average numbers for April remained 30.7% below pre-pandemic levels, as reported by Placer.ai.
Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco also showed signs of growth, but their office occupancy rates were still down by 42% to 44% compared to 2019.
Placer.ai leverages mobile phone data to track pedestrian activity across about 1,000 buildings nationwide, although it doesn’t provide specific visitor counts for each city.
This data aligns with broader trends noted by real estate analysts, which is a positive sign for developers and landlords grappling with declining property values and high interest rates.
Yet, while it’s evident that Manhattan’s office attendance has surged, one might wonder if it truly reached the pre-pandemic average of 94.5%.
In areas like Midtown’s Parks and Sixth Avenue, Hudson Yards, and near the World Trade Center, the hustle and bustle in office lobbies and sidewalks feels reminiscent of March 2019.
Since the beginning of the year, significant new leases and expansions from Amazon, Aquarian Holdings, Amalgamated Bank, and various law firms underscore a renewed demand for space, signaling that the “hybrid” trend isn’t the only game in town.
There has been ongoing talk about big companies like JPMorgan Chase, Apple, and Alphabet pushing for a return to the office this year.
However, we should approach Placer.ai’s findings with a note of caution.
The repurposing of older office buildings into apartments has likely impacted the overall stock of available office space over the past few years, possibly affecting Placer.ai’s analysis.
It would be beneficial if Placer.ai could provide more transparency on its findings, as many in the industry have expressed concerns about the opaque nature of data from other sources, like Kastle’s barometer.
Nevertheless, despite some valid criticisms, Placer.ai’s insights appear to be more reliable than those from Kastle, which primarily focuses on card swipes in certain buildings for its occupancy metrics.
Leaders in the real estate market, including both public and private firms, assert that the “work from home” phenomenon is fading into the past, influencing fewer decisions in the present space marketplace.
Still, some media outlets persist in referencing Kastle’s estimates, which pegged office occupancy rates at a mere 55% last summer.
