Apartment Owners See Expenses Rise, Revenues Fall As Pandemic Wears On Budgets

Why is Downtown Houston still ablaze with lights? The question has echoed angrily across social media this week as 1.4 million Houston households went without power — some for three straight days, others rolling through blackouts that themselves can last a day or more — and temperatures remained below freezing.…

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Although the widespread and sudden shift to remote work early last year was a shocking change, a pre-existing movement toward more flexible work options was already well underway, making some companies better positioned to weather the upheaval.

The short-term outlook for the future of workplaces, particularly offices, is marked by uncertainty as the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic continues. Recent data paints a dim picture of market strength with a national office vacancy rate at 14.2% in December 2020, according to a Yardi Matrix report. All cities tracked were above 10% vacancy, with Houston topping out at 22.1%. Bay Area office vacancy was 14.3%. With market turbulence expected to continue at least through midyear, questions swirl about what the future holds for office product.

A focus group of 32 office owners, occupiers and placemakers conducted by Cushman & Wakefield along with George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis, revealed that above all, flexible and adaptable work environments are the defining feature of future workplaces. In their report, Workplace Ecosystems of the Future, the authors found that though the focus group participants rated the work-from-home experience as “better than expected” with high productivity levels, many workers are missing the culture and collaboration that drives innovation in in-person environments.

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