Delta Variant Pushes Back Some Office Re-Openings

The Delta variant has forced a handful of big-name companies to push back their return to the office by a month or more and in some cases all the way into 2022.

Twitter, for example, is closing its recently reopened offices in San Francisco and New York and will indefinitely postpone other reopening plans. Apple pushed back its return to the office date to Oct. 1, a month later than initially scheduled. Google has extended its remote work policy until mid-October. Game-maker Roblox has postponed its return to Jan. 4, 2022, from mid-September. Software provider Asana won’t have employees return to the office until February.

If more firms follow these companies, the future of the office asset class will be even more uncertain than it already is.

Despite this new trend, the Kastle Back to Work Barometer shows a slight but steady uptick in returns across its universe of key holders. In the barometer, the company studies keycard, fob and KastlePresence app access data from the 2,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses across 47 states.

Of the 10 cities measured on the Back to Work Barometer, eight saw slight increases in building occupancy rates during the week of 7/21. The 10-city average rose 0.4 percentage points to 34.8%. Austin is pacing the nation in the back-to-office movement, hitting a new occupancy high of 53.5% open. Houston was second at 51.2%, with occupancy rising 0.4%. Dallas was third at 50.7%, though occupancy fell 0.7% during the week.

Law firms reached 58% occupancy rates last week, pacing the broader commercial real estate industry. The Back to Work Barometer law firm average moved up 2.3 percentage points.

“For American workers to return safely back into office buildings, there must be a comprehensive system in place that integrates technology and new safety protocols both for the building and for tenant spaces,” according to Kastle.

Even with questions about how the Delta variant will postpone reopenings, many observers remain confident that workers will return.

Tere Blanca, CEO of Blanca Commercial Real Estate of South Florida tells GlobeSt.com that “our economy is on the move and companies are planning a return to the workplace by implementing creative, effective measures keeping health and wellness at the forefront.” 

“National tenant demand for progressive, business-friendly markets like South Florida remains evident, and economic fundamentals, such as monetary conditions, jobs gains, falling unemployment and positive business surveys, remain strong,” Blanca says.