About 17.3 percent of all office space in Manhattan is available for rent, the highest percentage in at least three decades. Demand for rent on the island has dropped to just over $ 74 per square foot, from nearly $ 82 by early 2020, according to a recent report by real estate services company Newmark. Elsewhere, demand rents have remained largely flat from a year ago, including in Boston and Houston, but have climbed slightly in Chicago.
The Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, headquartered in the US SoHo suburb of Manhattan, recently moved to another office building in the area, an open layout with tables designed for its 130-person staff that lasts only a few days. per week the office will enter. Many of the office workers will work remotely after the pandemic, while some employees, such as those in the marketing department, will sometimes hold meetings in SoHo.
“As a leader, it was challenging because it is so important to meet people face to face,” said Daisuke Tsukagoshi, CEO of Uniqlo USA. “As we are a Japanese company with a global reach, the need for remote collaboration between many centers has always been part of our culture.”
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The share prices of large landlords, often structured as real estate investment trusts that transfer almost all of their profits to investors, are trading well below their previous highs, even as the broader stock market and some companies in other industries such as airlines and hotels. hit hard by the pandemic reached new highs. The shares of Boston Properties, one of the largest office landlords, are down 29 percent from the prepandemic high. SL Green, a major landlord in New York, is 26 percent lower.
Fitch Ratings estimated that the profits of office landlords would drop by 15 percent if companies were allowed to stay home for an average of just one and a half days a week. Three days at home can reduce income by 30 percent.
Senior executives at real estate companies claim they are not worried. They said the work of the house would fade quickly once most of the land was vaccinated. Their reasons for thinking so? According to them, many managers have told them that it is difficult to get workers to work together or train young professionals when they are not together.