Sr Commercial Real Estate Economist at First American Financial. Opinions, views, and perspectives contained in tweets are my own.
Nov 21, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Thread on office vacancy
The pandemic changed the way we live and work. No longer must we all be in the same physical location to collaborate. This radical shift (or, as we economists like to say, "exogenous shock") has fundamentally changed the way we use office space. 1/n
The sharp drop in demand for office space has resulted in more underutilized office space across the country than is fully captured by traditional metrics such as vacancy or availability rates. 2/n
Office remains the asset class with the least certain future. However, not all office space is created equal. For example, life science office is in a steadier position since lab work generally can't be performed remotely. 1/n
Given persistent demand to lease life science office space, occupancy rates in this specialized asset class remain quite high. As one data point, Alexandria Real Estate, a publicly traded REIT that specializes in life science office space, reported... 2/n
