According to Placer.ai, while office visits recovered to 72.2% of pre-pandemic levels nationally, New York City and Miami saw the largest increases, with both cities returning 90% of their foot traffic from July 2019.
The firm’s Office Building Index examines cell phone “ping” data at over 77 commercial office buildings and commercial office buildings with first-floor retail.
Lila Margalit of Placer.ai stated in the paper releasing the July findings that employers, ranging from small businesses to large multinational enterprises, are tightening their return-to-office (RTO) rules and clamping down on tactics like coffee-badging and forcing workers to relocate closer to the workplace. “Coffee-badging” is the practice of office workers reporting for work and leaving after only long enough to have a cup of coffee.
City Making A Comeback
Other indications point to a city making a comeback. According to Danny Mangru, the U.S. Office Lead for Market Intelligence at commercial real estate consulting firm Avison Young, lease activity in Manhattan increased by “nearly 20%” in the first half of 2024 instead of the same period in 2023.
In a May report, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander stated that it “now seems unlikely” that the city would go through an economic doomsday scenario.