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'Vicious cycle': US office vacancy levels hit record high — are we on the precipice of an 'urban doom loop?'
Moneywise via MSN ^ | 06/12/2024 | Serah Louis

Posted on 07/12/2024 7:20:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The national office vacancy rate hit a record 19.8% in the first quarter of 2024, according to a preliminary report from Moody’s Analytics.

And it could get worse, as companies continue to lease substantial space despite a decline in the in-office footprint.

The 'urban doom loop' cycle

While the shift to remote work in recent years offers plenty of flexibility to employees, some experts have concerns the decline in office building usage could spell a more sinister problem for big cities.

“Everybody’s affected by this issue,” Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School, told CNN.

Van Nieuwerburgh, previously dubbed "the prophet of urban doom" by The New York Times, notes that declining office property values leads to lower real estate tax revenue, which means cities have to slash spending.

“When cities cut spending, cities become a less attractive place to live and people leave — and that aggravates the problem, We get into this vicious cycle that I’ve called the ‘urban doom loop.’”

In New York City, office vacancy levels have topped 20% since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, reports CNN, citing data from the NYC Comptroller. Census Bureau data shows the city’s estimated population slumped from 8.80 million to 8.34 million between April 2020 and July 2022, a drop of roughly 468,000 residents — which represented nearly 5.3% of the city’s total population.

Van Nieuwerburgh told The New York Times last year that if office values decline in proportion with usage, city revenue from property taxes could plunge billions of dollars a year.

“So this is a train wreck in slow motion,” he said. “The second shoe has yet to drop.”

Are office-to-residential conversions really the answer?

Some experts believe converting vacant office buildings into residential apartments could revitalize a dying downtown core

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: biden; bidendestroyseconomy; bidenomics; commercial; office; realestate; realty; vacancy
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To: SeekAndFind
Vicious Cycle was a pretty good band!


21 posted on 07/13/2024 4:23:59 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: ponygirl

So many individuals occupying C-suites shown (with DIE/ESG) that they willing to poison their own companies to advance the communist agenda.

The trend you’re seeing sounds similar.


22 posted on 07/13/2024 4:46:24 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: Reno89519

Turn them all into Indian casinos. That’s the obvious solution.


23 posted on 07/13/2024 4:59:48 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp??)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

And convert the space to smart city housing!

You thought *working* in a cubicle was bad...


24 posted on 07/13/2024 5:02:37 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: ponygirl

“Perhaps these positions are redundant and they don’t need to exist?”

Correct answer.

The managers of the “keystroke gang” should also be fired. It is obvious their jobs do not need to exist.

Then I would take a very hard long of the next level of managers above them.

It is a good bet that most of them are redundant as well.


25 posted on 07/13/2024 5:08:09 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: FLT-bird

“used to have to put my headphones in and listen to music (classical or gregorian chant usually) to try to drown out the noise so I could get some work done.”

When I worked in an office it was obviously a lot noisier than yours. I had to play thrash metal to drown out the noise. I am serious.


26 posted on 07/13/2024 5:10:18 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: SeekAndFind

Some experts believe converting vacant office buildings into residential apartments could revitalize a dying downtown core

Methinks the experts forgot the need for more utilities, from plumbing for showers/baths to electrical for cooking to garbage shutes. Adding utilities to the existing builing envelope is cost prohibitive


27 posted on 07/13/2024 5:15:05 AM PDT by Steven Tyler
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Re: Keystroke/mouse movement software

Where can I get that software to use to run a farm? ;)


28 posted on 07/13/2024 5:28:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

When you’re actually doing something useful, as you are, you do not need keystroke software. :-)


29 posted on 07/13/2024 8:26:25 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (FBI out of Florida!)
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To: SeekAndFind
This has been obvious for some time now. I still see new offices under construction in my area (DFW), and I simply don't understand it. Occupancy rates are low and declining, yet someone still thinks it makes sense to build still more in a glutted market.
30 posted on 07/13/2024 10:15:26 AM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: FLT-bird
Re: classical or gregorian chant usually

Are you a fan of Anonymous 4? I have several of their albums and think it's some of the most beautiful music I own. 11,000 Virgins by Hildegard von Bingen is my favorite.

31 posted on 07/13/2024 10:24:59 AM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: zeugma
In 1862, Lincoln met Capt. David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard, providing protection for the president when he commuted from the White House to his cottage at the Soldier’s Home. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency at the cottage, which allowed him some escape from D.C.’s summers and from public interruptions at the White House.

Lincoln and his bodyguard became close, and slept in the same bed: Derickson’s superior, Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlain, and Tish Fox, the wife of Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus Fox, both wrote about it. Tish wrote in her diary that Derickson was devoted to Lincoln and “when Mrs. Lincoln was away, they slept together.”

“The president was also not an infrequent visitor in the late afternoon hours, and endeared himself to his guards by his genial, kind ways. He was not long in placing the officers in his two companies at their ease in his presence, and Capts. Derickson and Crozier were shortly on a footing of such marked friendship with him that they were often summoned to dinner or breakfast at the presidential board. Capt. Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president’s confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln’s absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him, and — it is said — making use of his excellency’s nightshirt!"

This was in addition to him having spent years sleeping with Joshua Fry Speed earlier in his life. Don't give me any nonsense about "well gosh, men slept in the same bed sometimes back then". No. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....its probably a duck.

32 posted on 07/13/2024 10:49:52 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: zeugma

Yes I have that album and yes I like that one.


33 posted on 07/13/2024 10:50:17 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Yeah, it IS pretty hands-on, LOL!

Though I still manage to find time to waste here... ;)


34 posted on 07/13/2024 12:40:06 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: SeekAndFind

High unemployment will fix this problem as people are forced back to the office.


35 posted on 07/13/2024 12:52:13 PM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
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