According to Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index, buildings in the study received 36.5% fewer visits in December 2023 than in December 2019. This reflects the same general holding pattern which has foot traffic hovering at approximately 40% of pre-COVID levels.
However, amidst this data there are some apparent regional differences. New York City emerged as December’s winner in office recovery. The city saw a year-over-four-year visit gap of just 19.2%. This was the smallest gap seen by New York City in quite a while. Yet, San Francisco saw a year-over-four-year gap of 53.1%, placing the city at the other end of the spectrum in terms of recovery.
The report indicates the month of December is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to analyzing foot traffic and office attendance in general. A key factor is the holiday season, which is often marked by employee time off.
Overall, office goers tend to come from relatively affluent areas, with greater-than-average shares of single-person households. However, that changed during the last three months of 2023. Data suggests that as the holidays set in, visitors to office buildings were more likely to come from bigger, less affluent households. This indicates two possibilities: greater flexibility for higher-income employees to work from home during the holiday season; and /or a greater possibility of single employees traveling, likely to visit family during the holidays or take a year-end vacation, with the ability to access work remotely.
While December’s data might be skewed due to the holiday season, there does seem to be a holding pattern for foot traffic. There has been a decline in fully remote work over the past few years, yet most companies aren’t requiring people to go back to the office full time either. Hybrid work arrangements may be here to stay, with employees and companies negotiating terms for a new model of work that benefits both parties.