New York office buildings are facing a potential $50 billion wipeout of value thanks in part to remote work, Bloomberg News reported. The values of those properties declined nearly 45% in 2020 and are forecast to remain roughly 39% below pre-pandemic levels due to the persistence of flexible work policies that gained traction during the crisis, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered office buildings and forced people to switch to a remote work environment, many offices sat vacant and still do, even as companies try to entice employees to return. Roughly 46% of workers in the New York metro area were back at their desks in the week ended Sept. 21, according to card-swipe data from Kastle Systems. The authors of the study, which included researchers from New York and Columbia universities, found that higher-quality buildings are more insulated from the trends, as more tenants seek out better space for their remaining office footprints.
