• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026

2

Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup

3

Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026

1

Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026

2

Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup

3

Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026
FinanceReal Estate

Office vacancies set new all-time high, blowing past recession-era rates

By
Alena Botros
Alena Botros
Former staff writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Alena Botros
Alena Botros
Former staff writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 4, 2024, 5:02 PM ET
More gloom, and maybe doom, for offices.
More gloom, and maybe doom, for offices.Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The poster child of commercial real estate’s downfall is making headlines again, for the worse. 

Recommended Video

“The office sector slashed its vacancy record set just a quarter ago,” and it’s getting even closer to the 20% mark, according to Moody’s. As of the first quarter of this year, the office vacancy rate reached 19.8%, up from 19.6% the prior quarter. Not to mention, the new record-high vacancy rate is 50 basis points “above the recessionary peaks recorded in 1986 and 1991,” an analysis published earlier this week found.

All commercial real estate is vulnerable to higher interest rates, more so after an era of cheap money. That’s really what is causing the distress within the industry. Capital Economics, a research firm, estimated a $590 billion loss in commercial real estate property values last year, followed by another $480 billion wipeout this year. Morgan Stanley analysts once predicted something “worse than in the Great Financial Crisis” for commercial real estate. And offices have yet another thorn in their side, stemming from the pandemic: remote work. 

The prior peaks in 1986 and 1991 “occurred under notably different market conditions than today, highlighting today’s vacancy rate peak as a result of shifting working styles,” Nick Luettke, coauthor of the analysis and associate economist, said in a statement to Fortune. “The two historic peaks came as a result of underlying macroeconomic conditions. The 1986 vacancy rise came as the result of surging supply with high construction levels, while 1991 came as a result of the previous decade of construction fusing with greater economic uncertainty at the time.”

Presently, it’s as simple as this: If people are working from home, they’re not working in an office. Of course there are hybrid work models, but that still equates to needing less physical office space. That’s why office vacancies are setting record highs. “Another quarter of vacancy increase emphasizes the long-term ramifications of hybrid work models, despite positive employment and GDP trends in the current economic cycle,” the report read. Effective rents are falling, too, by 0.04% in the first quarter.

But Kevin Fagan, head of commercial real estate analysis at Moody’s, previously told Fortune, “The story of office isn’t a story of mass obsolescence, it’s more of an ‘it’s going to take time for it to normalize and discover what it is in the future.’” 

In the analysis from this week, the authors wrote, some companies are doubling down on office space, and that’s why we’re seeing a “slow bleed.” And we know that San Francisco’s office sector in particular is seeing some signs of hope because of the hype surrounding artificial intelligence, after it was once expected to be one of the hardest-hit. “San Francisco went through a very low low, and we heard words of doom loop, and now we’re going through what I think a lot of people see as just the nascent beginning of a recovery,” Alexander Quinn, senior director of Northern California research for JLL, a real estate services company, previously told Fortune. For some context, by the end of last year, AI companies had leased 3.9 million square feet of office space, a 50% increase from the year earlier—and made up roughly 28% of leasing activity within the office space, Quinn said.

So offices haven’t gone extinct, but they aren’t out of the woods by any means; Capital Economics expects office values to fall more than 40% peak to trough by the end of 2025, with no recovery even by 2040, as of the end of last year. Fagan previously said vacancies would begin to fall next year, but that this year would still be a rough one for the sector given how much vacancies weigh on rent growth. So it’s not clear if office vacancies have hit their peak in this current cycle. 

“The doomsday scenario has yet to play out as financial, company culture, and collaboration explanations made by many companies underscore the salience of local, in-person footprints for many firms,” the authors of the Moody’s analysis wrote. “With significant lease rollovers and shifting interest rate expectations, uncertainty remains over exactly when office vacancy rates will truly peak.”

About the Author
By Alena BotrosFormer staff writer
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Alena Botros is a former reporter at Fortune, where she primarily covered real estate.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Vietnam has to find $200 billion to fund its ambitious growth agenda. Techcombank’s CEO thinks that has to come from overseas
BankingAsia Agenda
Vietnam has to find $200 billion to fund its ambitious growth agenda. Techcombank’s CEO thinks that has to come from overseas
By Angelica AngJune 16, 2026
9 hours ago
Vessels lie at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran's coast.
Energyoil and gas
Filling up your car won’t feel normal until next summer, S&P says
By Tristan BoveJune 16, 2026
10 hours ago
A man sits at a red checkerboard table with a Tiffany-style Pizza Hut lamp hanging above him.
RetailFood and drink
Pizza Hut is getting the private equity treatment in a $2.7 billion deal as its owner offloads the brand that defined 1990s dining nostalgia
By Sasha RogelbergJune 16, 2026
11 hours ago
Exclusive: PayPal winds down venture arm as fintech giant restructures under new CEO
Startups & VenturePayPal Holdings
Exclusive: PayPal winds down venture arm as fintech giant restructures under new CEO
By Ben WeissJune 16, 2026
11 hours ago
‘Making China the elephant in the room’: The G7 confronts its reliance on U.S. AI and Chinese energy supply chains, experts say
EuropeAnthropic
‘Making China the elephant in the room’: The G7 confronts its reliance on U.S. AI and Chinese energy supply chains, experts say
By Mia OsmonbekovJune 16, 2026
11 hours ago
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
EconomyFederal Reserve
Trump turned the dollar into a foreign policy tool, and now risks undermining the currency’s extraordinary status, think tank says
By Tristan BoveJune 16, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 16, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 16, 2026
18 hours ago
Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup
Success
Team USA star Ricardo Pepi grew up in a trailer in El Paso—and his parents pawned their car title to fuel his soccer dream. Now, he’s in the World Cup
By Preston ForeJune 15, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 15, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 15, 2026
2 days ago
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
Big Tech
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
By Tristan BoveJune 15, 2026
2 days ago
Cursor’s 25-year-old CEO is a former Google intern who just cemented a $60 billion deal with SpaceX
AI
Cursor’s 25-year-old CEO is a former Google intern who just cemented a $60 billion deal with SpaceX
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 16, 2026
17 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 15, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 15, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 15, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.