Who's winning the WFH battle?

Recent news highlights the WFH battle in cities worldwide. 

CNBC's report below features East Coast mayoral efforts to revitalize downtowns with Philadelphia office conversions featured.

• Why workers are still winning the Return-to-Office fight; BBC
• The fight over WFH goes global - The Economist
• Here's why Philly's offices won't become apartments anytime soon - Philadelphia Inquirer
• With fewer office workers here's how Center City's daily population is changing; Philadelphia Business Journal

  • Now, more than three years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Philadelphia’s downtown weekday population is around 340,000. I look forward to celebrating when we replace those 60,000 missing people,” said Gupta, Center City District’s vice president for parks and public realm.

• East Coast mayors call for more office to apartment conversions; CNBC
  • Philadelphia featured throughout, starting at 01:38

Personally, I think the statistics on WFH productivity are misleading. In many jobs measurable results are difficult to prove. I remember working in marketing for a software company in the 90's when my bosses would spend hours in hallway discussions of the latest Friends episode, then stay late "working" when it seemed like they just wanted to avoid parenting duties at home.

What appears as productivity may not really be the case.

How office workers affect livability plays out in Philadelphia's MidTown condo market as the WFH debate continues;

MidTown Condo Market Report

Limited inventory and a few MidTown luxury condo sales create misleading and confusing market reports as you can see with sales in May.

Highlights of June 2023's sales statistics;

• Median sold price for Condo & Coop properties for June was $495,000, representing an increase of 70.7% compared to last month and an increase of 25.3% from Jun 2022.
• Average days on market for units sold in June was 71 days, 9% below the 5-year June average of 78 days.
• There was a 44.4% month over month decrease in new contract activity with 5 New Pendings; a 22.2% MoM increase in All Pendings (new contracts + contracts carried over from May) to 11; and a 1.8% decrease in supply to 56 active units.
• Download full report
• Center City Market Reports - 5 year comparisons

Empty offices not only reduce tax base for cities and livability for residents, the carrying cost for developers is hitting a critical zone.

Empty Office Space - Bad Debt Timebomb

Growing bad debt impacts the commercial sector due to empty office space;

• 3 prominent Center City office buildings face default as tenants leave amid "office real estate apocolypse" - Philadelphia Business Journal
• The world's empty office space has become a debt timebomb - The Economist
• Philadelphia office vacancy is at a record high: Why it will "get worse before it gets better" - Philadelphia Business Journal

For more market insights specific to your real estate goals, be sure to book a private consultation. I look forward to our next conversation.

Susanna Kunkel, Realtor
eXp Realty, LLC
484-416-0567