With the return of workers to the office at right around its post-pandemic high of 50% nationally, according to this week's data from Kastle, optimism seems to be growing that CRE's most beaten-down sector could improve.
"The worst is behind us," JLL CEO Christian Ulbrich said this week on CNBC.
Ulbrich cited Chicago, which is seeing 65% of its employees return, commenting that it was one of the slowest recovering major markets for workers' return.
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Ulbrich pointed to the longer commutes that many Chicagoans face as one reason for their reluctance to return.
He also said a city's culture is affecting return rates. According to the CNBC report, Dallas, Houston, and Charleston, S.C. are markets where office occupancy is more substantial because those cities didn't have as strict lockdown policies (if any) in the past few years.
However, workers in other markets, particularly on the two coasts, are clearly reluctant to return.
For example, Google announced this week that it is cracking down on employees who haven't been coming into its offices consistently on the three days a week that they are expected, CNBC also reported.
The company on Wednesday amended its hybrid work policy to include "tracking office badge attendance, confronting workers who aren't coming in when they're supposed to and including the attendance in employees' performance reviews," according to internal memos viewed by CNBC.
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