Just nine percent of companies surveyed by CBRE plan to significantly shrink their office portfolios, a figure that's far less than last year's 39%.

Of the 185 companies surveyed by the CRE giant in its Spring 2021 Occupier Survey a whopping 85% say they expect employees to spend at least half of their time in a physical office. The majority of large companies—72%—appear to be planning for what CBRE calls "modest" office-space reductions, a significant increase from CBRE's September 2020 survey results (45%).  And smaller companies report they're more likely to keep their portfolio the same or grow it.

 "Multiple factors support this sentiment, including the ongoing rebound of the US economy and companies' realization that they need to retain more office space than they previously thought," said Julie Whelan, CBRE Global head of Occupier Research in prepared remarks. "Many companies now recasting the design and function of their offices will find that the square footage needed to accommodate team-centric work, free-address seating and meeting space often exceeds that previously dedicated to rows of individual offices and cubicles."