In the Boston area, several big name companies are rethinking their office requirements in the face of the work from anywhere movement.
General Electric, Wayfair, Reebok and a number of technology firms have reduced their office portfolios, according to The Boston Globe.
“Companies in urban Boston listed some 1.1 million square feet of office space for sublease just in the last three months, according to research from commercial brokerage CBRE. That has grown the stock of space available in the sublease market by about one-fourth in the last year, to 3.4 million square feet, about equal to its pandemic high and far more than was typical before COVID. It’s not just the office market, either — lab space subleases in Boston have more than doubled in recent months “as life science users continue to reevaluate their real estate footprint,” according to a recent report from brokerage Newmark.”
“Indeed, the rapid runup in federal interest rates and volatility in the stock market, along with concerns about the labor market, inflation and a looming recession are making it tougher for some employers to figure out their long-term office plans, said Liz Berthelette, research director at Newmark. If companies don’t have to make decisions, she said, some will put them off until there’s more clarity,” the article said.