Home office has weighed on the office market in recent months. Vacancy rates have risen moderately. However, one might have suspected that vacancy rates would have risen much more significantly.

So what have companies been doing? On the one hand, they have used the vacated spaces to increase the distance between different workspaces as infection control. In addition, the areas have been used as creative spaces. A third effect is that central locations are now much more clearly in demand by companies than peripheral locations. This means that vacancy rates in central locations have risen much more moderately or, in some cities, such as London or Paris, have even declined.

Companies are trying to counter the shift to home office with good locations. They want to offer their employees something in the form of restaurants or shopping opportunities, for example, and thus bring them back to the company more often. Accordingly, vacancy rates in these central locations - in the office market, one would say in the CBD "Central Business District" - declined in several markets during the corona crisis, while vacancy rates in peripheral locations rose moderately.

Conclusion

Of course home office is a burden on the office market, of course vacancy rates are rising and will potentially continue to rise moderately in the coming years, but the effect was much smaller than originally feared.