According to Brett White, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, the office market is showing signs of recovery as office employment grows.
On CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, White stated that 2.9 million office jobs were lost during April and May of 2020. However, 2.2 million of those jobs have been recovered, and Cushman believes that a full recovery will occur by mid-2022.
White added that office building tours are up by 80%, while 75% of signed leases are for more than four years. Additionally, central business district offices are anticipated to see around 88% to 89% occupancy levels over the next few years.
However, vaccines will largely determine how return-to-office plans and the entire office market fare over the next few years. White notes that many companies have delayed their return-to-office plans, many of which were to be after Labor Day in September.
″It’s just an overall fundamental trend of movement back to normalcy. It’s going to be rocky, it’s going to be different in every marketplace. … The office space itself may be a little bit different,” said White. “Hopefully it’s more fun to work in and the technology is better, but I think we’re going to feel a year from now, that for the most part all this is behind us.”
