In a post-pandemic world marked by a significant shift toward hybrid and remote work, offices are becoming increasingly vacant. In fact, as much as 330 million square feet of U.S. office space could become vacant by 2030, according to an early 2023 report by global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. What’s more is an extra 740 million square feet of office space could be vacant from “natural causes” by 2030, Cushman & Wakefield adds, which leaves about 1 billion square feet of unused office space in the U.S. alone. That’s nearly 1.5 times the amount from the end of 2019 right before the pandemic began, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
“It's not a secret that [office] vacancy is at a 30-year high right now. It's around 18%,” Julie Whelan, CBRE’s global head of occupier research, tells Fortune. “So the question is, is that vacancy going to stay there for the long term? Or is it going to recede back as the economy gets better, and occupiers start to lease space again?”
