Office workers may not have yet returned to the office—but data from the first quarter of this year shows that demand is beginning a slow upswing.

Data from Kastle Systems, which installs security systems in office properties showed that just 27.8% of employees in 10 of the country's biggest cities worked from an office during the week of May 12, down from pre-pandemic stats of 92.4% in early March of last year. In cities like San Francisco and New York, which had the most restrictive lockdown policies, just 15.6% and 17% of office workers were back in a physical office during that time. Cities in Texas, which opened sooner than many other states, tended to fall in the mid-40% range. Contrast that with CBRE data from April which showed that 65% of people surveyed said they'd started returning to the office, up from 58% in January.

"We're going to see an office market that's going to take probably at least a couple of years to find its footing again," Ian Anderson, CBRE's head of research in the Americas, told Trepp. "There's no doubt about it, more people are going to be working remotely," he said. "People are not going to be coming into the office every day of the week anymore. That is absolutely going to pressure demand and a lot of office market fundamentals across the country to the downside."