The new abnormal
In February this year, American office occupancy hit a pretty significant milestone on its journey to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Data gathered by Kastle Systems, which tracks security pass swipes for offices in 10 major cities across the US, warranted articles that featured experts pondering whether this was “as good as it gets”. The figure that occupancy rates had exceeded for the first time in just under 3 years? 50%.
February 2020 has been the benchmark month that dates have since been measured against. At that time, offices bustled with workers as they had for decades. Trains, city streets, local eateries, and coffee shops buzzed with people on their way to and from work. Indeed, before the pandemic, Kastle's data showed that occupancy levels mainly fluctuated on Fridays, and even then only to ~90%.
Of course, no-one needs reminding of what happened next. With businesses shuttered and travel restricted, office occupancy fell to less than 15% of normal in April 2020, and America’s cityscapes have been in a slow recovery ever since. Indeed, while calls to return to the office from companies like Google and Goldman Sachs intensify, city offices haven’t proved any more alluring to at-home and hybrid workers this year. The occupancy figure has hovered at about that 50% benchmark for the last 4 months.
