Office Buildings Still Sit Empty in Major Metros

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the office return rate was up to 27% and climbing in mid-October. That number has since declined since COVID’S latest spike. Employees are back to working from home, and many corporations are reluctant to say whether they’ll be back anytime soon. This spells trouble for commercial real estate landlords. But even more tragically, small retail businesses are taking the hit, losing a large chunk of their business that comes from foot traffic from nearby office buildings.

Tyler Kern and Daniel Litwin, MarketScale Radio Hosts, consider the ripple effects of empty office space. Kern and Litwin look to the government’s weak financial response to the crisis as a culprit in the trickle down negative effects on businesses big and small.

KEY POINTS:

• Urban centers still feel like ghost towns as COVID continues to spread.
• Real estate landlords scramble and pressure the government for a full economic re-opening.
• Small businesses in urban metros take the financial hit from empty office buildings.