PHILADELPHIA — This autumn, as big employers such as Comcast are asking employees to come back to the office at least a few days a week, the business-dominated corners of Center City are feeling more active than they have since March 2020. With the hybrid experiment in full swing — barring any new, deadlier variants of COVID-19 — some office workers are seeing something like a return to normalcy.
A new study, however, warns that there’s probably no going back to 2019.
A research paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the damage to the office sector caused by the rapid rise of remote work could be deep and lasting, predicting an “office real estate apocalypse” if trends continue. It finds that even newer buildings with more amenities, which have seen more robust leasing, could see a 20% cut in value.
