Moody’s Analytics Forecasts US Office Vacancy Rate Hitting Historic High of 19.9% in 2021
August 17, 2020
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Moody’s Analytics today announced its new forecasts for commercial real estate (CRE) rents and vacancies, covering eight property types and more than 3,000 submarkets across the US. The forecasts reflect the latest curated Q2 data on US CRE markets collected by the Moody’s Analytics Real Estate Information Services (REIS) group.
The office property sector was already experiencing downward pressure on the usage intensity of office space even before the COVID-19 crisis. Now, burdened with a wide-scale shift towards remote working as offices remain closed, it is expected to be particularly hard hit in the coming years.
National vacancies will rise past historic highs within the next few years. Our projections show the vacancy rate rising to 19.3% in 2020 before surpassing the 1991 record high of 19.7% to reach 19.9% in 2021 and 20.0% in 2022.
