The US office clearly has its headwinds, starting with delayed returns and accelerated virtual working trends. And as the return-to-work landscape evolves⁠—with the average US employee spending less time working in the office⁠—companies are likely to dial back on traditional private space and increase the amount of their collaborative, support, and amenity space. 

However, it's not all bad news in the office space segment. While Morningstar expects the oncoming new supply and continuing weakened demand to increase the vacancy rate over the next year, the construction pipeline is heavily laden with Class A projects that will support an ongoing flight to quality. 

The trend of developing higher-quality space with careful attention to providing the building amenities that tenants demand is likely to buoy the performance of these newer Class A properties, which could further widen the performance gap between them Class B and C properties, which tend to be older, lower-quality assets.