Cushman & Wakefield’s recently released Global Office Impact Study & Recovery Timing Report has some fascinating conclusions on how the office space market may evolve over the coming years. According to the report, vacancy will reach an apex in Q2 2022 with rents bottoming out slightly before then in Q1. Cushman & Wakefield expects both vacancies and rents to return to their pre-outbreak levels by 2025.
While this is hardly the end of the office world as we know it, such a prolonged period of price depression and heightened vacancy will require new approaches and strategies from office landlords and managers alike. Many of these new strategies can be seen in our Commercial Building Manager’s 2021 Budget Priority Report. For instance, most managers expect to take a more conservative stance with their properties in 2021, focusing on cutting costs and keeping occupancy up, versus making substantial upgrades or big investments.
We may see this perspective last quite some time. PropTech investment has been high for a long time, but over the next half-decade, it may be those companies and services that help property owners defend their market positions rather than those promising the next, coolest thing that sticks around longest.
Propmodo September, 29th, 2020