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Ranked: The U.S. Cities with the Most Vacant Offices
Visual Capitalist ^ | 08/05/2023 | Avery Koop

Posted on 08/05/2023 6:30:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

For many across the U.S., hour-long transit rides and traffic jams to work have been replaced by roll-out-of-bed commutes and stand-up desks at home, leaving vacant offices behind.

Long story short, more and more offices in major U.S. cities are empty.

As Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop details below, at the end of March 2023, the national average vacancy rate of U.S. offices had climbed as high as 18.6%.

So how have different cities in the U.S. been impacted? This ranking uses data out of fDi Intelligence to rank the top 10 cities that have seen the biggest increases in office vacancy rates from Q4’2019 to Q1’2023.

No Vacancy

It is anticipated that by 2030, over 300 million square feet of U.S. office spaces will be obsolete.

According to Pew Research Center, around 35% of U.S. workers who can work from home in 2023 are already doing so all the time. In short, unless trends begin to reverse, offices in many cities will stay empty or continue getting emptier.

Here’s a closer look at the cities with the fastest growing vacancy rates in percentage points (p.p.) terms since just before the COVID-19 pandemic:

San Francisco has been hardest hit, with vacancy rates climbing by 19.8 p.p. in just over three years. Meanwhile, New York City has added over 16.8 million square feet, equivalent to 293 football fields, of new office space since Q4’2019 between its three most vacant neighborhoods.

However, not all of the cities with the most vacant offices are huge metropolises. Urban areas like Austin, Columbus, and Raleigh-Durham have also seen massive increases in their office vacancies, but their increasing rates may be blamed more on new construction and oversupply than to falling demand.

The Office Real Estate Market

At the national level, the supply of new office real estate has been dropping steadily since Q1’2022, down by a whopping 67% year-over-year.

Overall, it looks like U.S. office buildings are not as bustling as they once were, but there still may be opportunities for the office real estate market in growing cities.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: cities; donatedonaldtrump; donatefreerepublic; donatetrump; labor; offices; realestate; realty; vacancy
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1 posted on 08/05/2023 6:30:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

All democrat?


2 posted on 08/05/2023 6:34:14 PM PDT by ryderann
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To: SeekAndFind

I hope Austin crashes and burns.


3 posted on 08/05/2023 6:34:59 PM PDT by Fai Mao (Starve the beast and steal its food!)
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To: SeekAndFind

SF rates make it near impossible to do business there


4 posted on 08/05/2023 6:49:42 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: SeekAndFind
I actually thought the vacancy rates were higher.

I would guess many of the non vacant office space is still pretty empty with people working from home.

5 posted on 08/05/2023 6:51:18 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: ryderann

What city(s) AREN’T Democrat because for some reason, the Left takes them all over?


6 posted on 08/05/2023 6:52:21 PM PDT by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Same ones with the most vacant brains.


7 posted on 08/05/2023 7:08:53 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo“What were you doing in the store? You were eating the food?”)
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To: SeekAndFind

Telworking and technology killed much of the demand for commercial offices. TeamCenter, Zoom, and other virtual office work combined with AI will destroy much of the need for people to go into work

Already much of your IT support, reservation call center and sales centers are routed to people’s homes. No commute, no office heating/cooling. No need for food services, janitorial of utilities.

Is it better? Some yes; some no.

There is nothing Liberals cannot destroy. Prosperity and drive to do better is among the first sacrifices


8 posted on 08/05/2023 7:19:22 PM PDT by Hodar (A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
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To: FreeReign
If the space is leased it is considered occupied — even if the company occupying it hasn’t had anyone working there for more than three years.

These vacancy rates are likely to escalate rapidly as more and more leases come up for renewal.

9 posted on 08/05/2023 7:23:57 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”)
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To: FreeReign

Wait until more leases expire.

Or they just quit paying like in SF.


10 posted on 08/05/2023 7:44:38 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: SeekAndFind
NYC has FIVE[5] Burroughs [NYS Counties].

Y nought [Y0] include all office vacencies in the City in one bar on the graph?

11 posted on 08/05/2023 7:45:54 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: EEGator

Yup. These numbers will only get worse,


12 posted on 08/05/2023 7:55:39 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: FreeReign

The plan is to fill the big cities with immigrants, causing them to collapse, which will push the liberal Americans now living there out into the red states/counties, to make them purple.


13 posted on 08/05/2023 8:09:14 PM PDT by Golden Eagle (Ultra Conservative)
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To: Alberta's Child
These vacancy rates are likely to escalate rapidly as more and more leases come up for renewal.

Excellent point. Just like the interest on the national debt is set to explode, as soon as all those T-bills that were bought at low interest rates expire over the next couple of years.

14 posted on 08/05/2023 8:13:00 PM PDT by Golden Eagle (Ultra Conservative)
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To: Golden Eagle
The plan is to fill the big cities with immigrants, causing them to collapse, which will push the liberal Americans now living there out into the red states/counties, to make them purple.

Yup. NYC for example still has a lot of buildings going up. Many of those buildings are hotels in the outer boroughs.

Who the heck would travel to NYC and stay in a hotel in the outer boroughs?

As you say, they will be future homes for immigrants, built with our inflated dollars, BTW.

15 posted on 08/05/2023 8:21:53 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: FreeReign

Where they will be given drivers licenses, and the ability (not right) to vote.

Even the vacant office space will house them, according to some I’ve heard.


16 posted on 08/05/2023 8:44:41 PM PDT by Golden Eagle (Ultra Conservative)
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To: FreeReign
As you say, they will be future homes for immigrants, built with our inflated dollars, BTW.

The World Trade Center in New York City is owned by a government agency of New York and New Jersey. That agency just got approval to use office space as low income housing:

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/affordable-housing-coming-to-world-trade-center-gov-kathy-hochul-announces/

Make no mistake. This government agency is aiding and abetting illegal alien invaders; if not housing them directly, adding government owned units for American low-income residents while freeing up housing for the invaders.

17 posted on 08/05/2023 8:49:07 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Fai Mao

Anustin has a rip-roaring growth in homeless camps, however!


18 posted on 08/05/2023 9:20:09 PM PDT by matthew fuller (The whole Western world needs Trump leadership.” Nigel Farage, Newsmax, 07/31/2023.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why aren’t these self-righteous sanctuary cities using these empty office spaces for the homeless border jumpers?


19 posted on 08/05/2023 9:44:22 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: Alberta's Child

One company I know is dropping the lease on half of its buildings, across multiple cities, within two years.


20 posted on 08/05/2023 10:54:37 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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