Adaptability bolsters the longevity of any organization. Yardi commercial market experts have observed that many urban and suburban office owners are transitioning to more flexible site models. The smoothest transitions occur when they are supported by integrated technology. Brian Sutherland, vice president of commercial sales at Yardi notes, “We will continue to see a lot more flexibility in the future of office. There is increasing demand for flexible workspace. Clients seek asset management and construction products as their urban and suburban offices convert into more versatile, mixed-use spaces.” Office spaces embrace the transition to more flexible workspaces Among office spaces, suburban sites have remained steady during the pandemic. Though they were not as vulnerable as their urban neighbors, many suburban office owners are exploring flexible spaces to adapt to tenant demand. As many tenants implemented remote work policies for employees, the daily demand for office space declined. Months later and moving forward, many tenants have announced hybrid office models that permit occupants to share socially distanced workspaces on a staggered schedule. Common areas are expanding to accommodate healthy and flexible work conditions. Some urban offices are taking the shift to adaptable spaces even farther. “To leverage current conditions, owners transform office assets into mixed-use facilities including traditional offices, flexible workspaces, retail and even multifamily,” reports Robert Teel, vice president of global solutions at Yardi. Technology tools to support the transition to flexible workspaces The transition to more accommodating spaces has resulted in an increased demand for technology. Solutions for construction management provide visibility into projects and cost management as owners transform buildings to meet the changing needs of the market. Short-term leasing and space management solutions help owners drive revenue in any space while promoting occupant safety. Vendor management, vendor compliance and procurement systems...

Office markets across the country faced a harsh year in 2020, and the outlook is still unclear, at least for the near-term. Vacancy rates ticked up 40 basis points to 14.2% and full-service-equivalent listing rates fell 1% nationally to $37.76 in the last 12 months, according to the January CommercialEdge National Office Report. Meanwhile, employment in office-using sectors has also largely been tracking the office space sector overall. Following a slight rebound in the summer and into early fall, employment is now falling again as the third wave of the virus drags on. Nationally, office-using employment fell 3.4% y-o-y in December. In fact, only 16 of the 120 markets covered in the report saw an increase in office-using employment, but most of them were under 2%. However, Austin’s office-using employment actually rose 6.4% in the last year, signaling a rosier outlook for Austin office space. Despite the overall downturn, new office construction still continued. Even though some projects were halted temporarily, 67.6 million square feet of office space was delivered nationwide in 2020. Currently, Charlotte and Austin stand out as both have the most square footage under construction — 11.5% and 10.8%, respectively, of their overall stock. “They both have high levels of domestic in-migration, and they have benefited from financial firm relocations. While New York City is still the financial capital of the world, financial jobs have been leaving for markets like Charlotte and Austin for years,” analysts noted in the report. “Much of the growth is driven by the financial activities sector, even though tech relocations capture most of the attention.” One aspect of the office’s uncertain future is related to how we’ll get back to normal. The vaccine rollout isn’t going as fast as many hoped, so a return to normalcy...

With office listing rates falling, vacancies increasing and new development slowing, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. office market is showing clearly after several months’ delay. The latest data, collected in the National Office Report from CommercialEdge powered by Yardi, shows that the national average full-service equivalent listing rate fell 25 cents in September from the previous month, to $38.07. This was a 0.5% decrease from the same period last year. The national vacancy rate increased 30 basis points month-over-month to 13.6%. “Listing rates have remained relatively sticky during the pandemic, with rates not decreasing concurrent with falling demand,” states the report. “The long-term nature of office leases coupled with a lack of potential tenants gives owners no incentive to dramatically lower rates at the current time.” Meanwhile, the amount of new office stock under construction has fallen steadily throughout the year. Only 24 of the top 75 markets analyzed have more square feet under construction than at the start of 2020. “As it becomes increasingly clear that things will not return to normal until a vaccine is made widely available, developers have not been replacing completed properties with new construction,” states the report. Gain all the insight in the October National Office Report from the research experts at CommercialEdge. CommercialEdge provides extensive property data that includes transaction, ownership and debt information, offering nationwide coverage across all commercial real estate asset types. Use the platform to uncover vital market data and get insights with the latest lease and sale listings. Want more key takeaways? Join the Office National Outlook webinar set for Wednesday, Nov. 11. Yardi Matrix vice president Jeff Adler and team will lead an informative presentation of the current trends and what to expect...

Last week, Yardi Matrix hosted three webinars that provided insight on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the self storage, multifamily and commercial real estate markets. Let’s look at the insight on the commercial market, which is extensive. This post will cover the office market – a follow-up on industrial and retail can be found here. National overview For most sectors of commercial real estate, the next four to eight weeks will be tough. Due to state public health mandates, up to a quarter of the country’s economy has shut down, which will result in double digit GDP drops. The travel, hospitality, and restaurant industries have been the hardest hit, affecting about 30 million people. The United States Department of Labor reported 6.6 million new jobless claims in March. While outlook for Q2 and Q3 is not encouraging for all sectors, a few sectors are functioning if not thriving. Agriculture, industrial, distribution, and construction are among the sectors that are stable or growing during the pandemic. For sectors that are suffering, analysts forecast a dip in economic performance rather than a long-term decline. How much and how broad of a dip is still up for debate. The peak and denouement of the pandemic are uncertain, and business impacts will follow. In response, Congress has passed a $2T CARES Act stimulus package to offset economic decline and aggregate demand. The Federal Reserve rolled out several initiatives for small businesses totaling $350 billion. Large business can take advantage of nearly direct access to federal resources for capital. Efforts to stave off business bankruptcies are accompanied by consumer aid efforts. Though consumer spending is being redirected, it is only moderately reduced. The big question on everyone’s mind: can businesses stay open and recall workers when this is...

Here are some key findings in the most recent U.S. office property report from Yardi® Matrix. All figures are as of October 2019 unless otherwise noted. Demand for office space remains strong, with office-using sectors adding 545,000 jobs over the past 12 months. One of every three jobs added in the 12 months ending in September were in office-using sectors. The average U.S. office asking rate increased 2% year-over-year. Per-square-foot prices for central business district buildings are 24.6% higher than in 2018. Prices for buildings with A+ and A ratings have increased 12.1% this year. Markets with the highest year-over-year listing rate growth were San Francisco, Tampa, Fla., the San Francisco Bay Area and Manhattan. N.Y. The national vacancy rate increased 40 basis points from the previous month, to 13.7%. Lower interest rates have helped accelerate transaction activity since the summer, with investment volume totaling $74 billion. Office space delivered nationally totaled 59.2 million square feet. 1 million square feet of space is under construction. Get all the details in the Yardi Matrix national office report for November...

The U.S. office market is holding steady amid faltering economic indicators and the prospect of a recession in two years. The industry’s status was the subject of a recent webinar presented by Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix, and Jack Kern, director of research and publications. They pointed to favorable U.S. economic conditions that include moderate gross domestic product growth, solid employment growth, low inflation and a tight labor market. On the other side of the ledger are struggling farming and manufacturing sectors and decelerating economies in China and Europe that present potential harbingers of a recession by mid-2021. More than half of the office markets tracked by Yardi Matrix experienced moderate rent growth over the past year, with tech hubs like San Francisco, Tampa, Fla., and Austin, Texas, seeing big gains. The absorption of available office properties, including expensive ones, in most markets makes for “quite a positive picture,” Adler said. “It’s not a bad time to be in the office business if you can work around some of the [larger] economic issues. Conditions are sufficient to maintain good office-using employment growth, occupancy and slow rental growth.” Promising niche markets were also on the webinar’s agenda. One of them, medical office buildings, is on the rise due to an aging population and providers’ desire to move healthcare delivery from hospitals to lower-cost facilities. Being less cyclical than other sectors and typically fetching higher prices than general office space accounts for much of this space’s appeal. “If you’re looking for value beyond the major office ‘food groups,’ this area merits attention,” Adler noted, adding that Yardi Matrix tracks 544 million square feet of medical office space. Another increasingly dynamic niche is R&D offices, consisting of highly specialized lab or research and development space...

A new report from Yardi® Matrix illustrates that new office property supply in the U.S. is becoming increasingly urbanized, an occurrence that’s at odds with historical trends. Suburban properties constituted at least half of new deliveries every year for the decade preceding. Today, “only 31.3% of square footage under construction is in suburban submarkets,” the report notes. Furthermore, there’s heavy concentration in a handful of metros, with more than half of new supply located in the top 10 most active markets and almost 80% in the top 20. Meanwhile, average asking rates across the country increased 1.4% year-over-year in September 2019, while vacancy rates dropped 10 basis points from the previous month, to 13.3%. Transaction activity was somewhat muted in the first three quarters of the year compared to 2018. “While there was some anticipation that sales would increase in the third quarter due to low interest rates, the third quarter of the year will finish close to the second quarter’s $22.8 billion of sales,” the report says. The report dives deep into key elements of the office sector, including drivers of asking rate growth in metros like San Francisco, Tampa, Fla.; and Austin Texas; office-using employment as it compares with the overall economy; and trends in key markets Austin, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Phoenix. Download it...