The shift to remote work has destroyed about $58 billion, or 33%, of the value of office real estate in New York City by 2021, according to a working paper.
Big picture: Released earlier this summer, the provocative title Work from Home and the Office Real Estate Apocalypse underscores how the work-from-home boom has been largely a bust for expensive corporate office space.
Why It Matters: While no one is clamoring for big office landlords, the decline in value — and the loss of workers that it signals — could have a major impact on the city, which depends on a steady flow of commuters to keep tax coffers going.
Details: For their work, the researchers examined a range of data, including office building valuations and occupancy rates, real estate investment trust (REIT) stock prices, and the commercial mortgage-backed securities market.
Wait, didn’t the writers say something about an “apocalypse”? There has been some opposition to the term since the paper was published online, said co-author Arpit Gupta, a finance professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Still, he maintains that this is a significant moment.
