Occupancy Index - February 15, 2025

Average weekly - 75%

Peak Day - Wednesday 87%

Low Day - Friday 48%

2025 started out being the year when we established a new normal for where people worked and that is starting to unfold. Recently though, serious questions about the immediate future of the economy have trumped that discussion. As one reader of this report pointed out last week, ‘at least we can see the Index showing signs of reaching a plateau’ as it seems to hover around the mid-70s’.

In further interviews, uncertainty in the job market and the economy at large, may drive a higher level of in-office work. The evidence isn’t there yet and we may not see it as we head into the March Break, but the data in April is likely to be very important. Don’t expect much change from the mid to high 70s until then.

The “Articles of Interest” is back. We have included articles about congestion and transit-oriented development (TOD) as a result of your suggestions.

Your SRRA Team,

Links to Articles of Interest

Money Talks. So Does Status. Why Desire to Get Promoted is Driving a Return to the Office

“People missed out on promotions because they weren’t seen,” insists a high-profile Canadian CEO. The bottom line, he suggests is that “workers need to be visible in the office to advance their careers.” He also believes that employers “are becoming more forceful about requiring staff to work in-person.” The CEO in question is in “constant communication with employers such as banks and other financial-services firms. He is hearing that CEOs “want their employees back in-person.”

Read Article Here.

Return to the Office Gaining Momentum Surveys of Canadian CEOs Suggest

Although the headlines usually focus on dramatic statements by high profile companies like Amazon, the reality is that the day-to-day chore of rebuilding company culture by persuading employees that the best results come from in-person collaboration. Surveys of Canadian CEOs suggests that progress is quietly is taking place in many small and medium companies.

Read Article Here.

New York’s Journey With Congestion Pricing Begins…

Much has been said about the pros and cons of congestion pricing as a solution in Toronto. But after years of on again off again decisions on whether to proceed with congestion price in New York the big day has arrived. In anticipation of the launch of congestion pricing in New York City, this article presents a well-balanced outline of what it will mean for commuters and travellers alike in that city. The assumption of course is that there are options for most commuters that are better than paying the charge – underscoring the need for Toronto to keep adding to its transit network.

Read Article Here.

One Manhattan Resident Who Supports a Congestion Charge

Focusing on the post-pandemic impact of increased car traffic – and higher pedestrian casualties – a local says he is willing to pay his share to help deter car trips to one of the world’s busiest core areas. Despite continuing threats to its implementation and the strong likelihood that the incoming president will remove the congestion charge, it was implemented as planned on January 5, 2025.

Read Article Here.

Thinking On Top of the Box to Address Congestion

Swiss engineers have invented a novel way to avoid highway congestion during routine maintenance. With the help of two large trucks, a mobile bridge is put in place to allow traffic to drive up then down while repairs are made below the bridge. So simple but it works!

Read Article Here.

Is Remote Work Being Used to Reward Higher Paid Staff?

A recent study in the U.S. concludes that higher paid workers aspire to and receive a better range of work from home privileges from employers. According to a Stanford economist, days devoted to remote work by lower paid staff have dropped by 16 per cent over the past year while their higher paid colleagues continue to work from home on a more regular basis, with a drop in remote days of only five per cent.

Read Article Here.

Toronto Housing Starts Can’t Match Those in Other Cities

Despite lots of hot air blowing out of Queen’s Park exhorting municipalities and builders to create more housing, the latest cross-country comparison suggests that places like Edmonton are outpacing high priced, constrained economies like Toronto’s.

Read Article Here.

You Can Bring a Horse to Water, But…TOD Not In Longueil’s Future Right Now

A decaying suburban mall sits nearly empty in a community on Montreal’s south shore, frustrating the mayor and others who see it as a golden opportunity to redevelop Complex Cousineau. With a newly constructed light rail connection from the south short to downtown Montreal, demand for housing is inching upwards and sites like this mall are “crying out” for redevelopment says the mayor of Longueil. But the owner won’t even return phone calls to the municipality, telling the Globe that it his right as a property owner to let it sit virtually empty.

Read Article Here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - February 1, 2025

Average weekly - 74%

Peak Day - Wednesday 86%

Low Day - Friday 47%

The Index did not move significantly over the holiday season or into the early weeks of January. However, it has shown signs that employers are seeing more in-office work toward the end of January.

This Index features a summary of the 19th Forum conducted on January 24th, 2025, with over ninety partners and associates of SRRA discussing the post COVID Impact of Remote Work on Cities and Congestion.

A summary of the Forum is reprinted below.

The “Articles of Interest” feature returns in the next Index.

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Your SRRA team

Beyond COVID: Lessons learned from the Occupancy Index and

The Root Causes of Congestion

Strategic Regional Research Alliance held its 19th Forum on 24 January 2025. Partners and guests attended in person and remotely by Zoom. Detailed copies of the Forum Summary are available to members and associates of SRRA. Reprinted below is a summary of the Forum.

Many of the challenges facing the region – housing availability and affordability, road congestion and sub-optimal transit use - existed before COVID and have been accelerated and made more pressing post COVID. A few new issues have arisen that will have a permanent impact.

The Forum concluded that COVID has entrenched some permanent remote work and triggered changes in travel choices and frequency that combine to increase road congestion and commute times.

While remote work is in the process of establishing a ‘new norm,’ there are many well researched evidence-based solutions to mitigating the negative impacts of congestion. What is needed now, is action to implement these solutions.

Here are the summary highlights from each Session.

Session One: The “New Norm” for remote work

The closing of the workplace brought on by COVID has impacted downtown retail businesses, accelerated on-line shopping, refocused transit use and forced employers to rethink the use and configuration of office space.

The return to the office has been steady. Claims during the height of the COVID lock-down about the end of office space have been replaced by a more nuanced application of remote work and an overhaul of many office premises. As of December, the Occupancy Index is at 73%.

At 85% it is reasonable to assume a ‘new norm’ has taken place.

At 85% there will not be a significant drop in demand for offices, retail dependent on office workers will have adjusted and transit operators will have reorganized around new peak hour travel times.

To complete the transition their needs be a heightened emphasis on creating accessible and affordable housing near transportation networks to reduce commute times and support population and employment growth with minimal impact of road use.

Session Two: The Root Causes of Congestion

High density urban regions worldwide have faced congestion on roads for centuries. The Greater Toronto Region is currently plagued by extreme road use and ever-increasing travel times.

Ancient Rome was congested. Nineteenth Century London and New York were congested as are the roads in today’s suburban Paris. Congestion is part of large urban region life, and 21st century cities are no exception to this rule. It is a sign of a City’s attractiveness and success. But the issue is how much is too much and what is the tipping point where congestion has net negative impacts?

The Fundamental Problem with Roads

Successful cities attract people, businesses and other activities, and the growth in population and economic activity will generally be faster than transportation infrastructure supply can keep up with.

Congestion is what engineers call a “non-linear phenomenon.” For quite some time, as traffic volumes increase, delays only increase marginally, as excess capacity is gradually used up. However, there is a “tipping point” beyond which delays increase exponentially and at a much faster rate than the population and associated traffic growth. Toronto passed that “tipping point” some time ago, and we are now very much experiencing the ramifications of rapid growth in time to travel anywhere and at more times of the week.

We can never build enough infrastructure to meet peak demands. This would be both economically and practically infeasible. Thus, successful cities will, inevitably, be congested. The challenge is to build transit alternatives to the road and plan for increased capacity to mitigate the worst consequences of growth. In the 1950s and 1960s the City of Toronto built for the 1980s but stopped adding to rapid transit in the 1970s. This meant subsequent was 100% reliant on roads. The recent investment in new subways and some bus routes has failed to fill this gap. As a result, Toronto will continue to fall behind as the region grows.

Immediate solutions to rising congestion lie in maximizing road capacity for essential services, and traditional modes of travel. But even more important is to maximize the capacity of the existing transit capacity. Action of both fronts needs to be a priority at all levels of government

Links to Articles of Interest

This feature will be continued in the next Index. 

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - December 1, 2024

Average weekly - 73%

Peak Day - Wednesday 86%

Low Day - Friday 44%

REGISTER FOR THE NINETEENTH FORUM

Impact of Remote Work on Cities and Congestion.

Hear experts forecast the future of remote work and solutions for congestion

January 24th 9:30 to 12:30.

Details for registration are available on our website.

November closed out with modest increase in peak day occupancy. As stated in the last Index, December is a month when consistent data is difficult to obtain and the return to the office is normally reduced due to statutory and personal holidays. As a result, we will not publish the Index for the month of December. Late November trends and interviews continue to suggest that the upward trend in occupancy in 2025 will be maintained. The next Index will feature the post holiday data and be published in early February.

Enjoy this week’s Articles of Interest.  

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Money Talks. So Does Status. Why Desire to Get Promoted is Driving a Return to the Office

“People missed out on promotions because they weren’t seen,” insists a high-profile Canadian CEO. The bottom line, he suggests is that “workers need to be visible in the office to advance their careers.”  He also believes that employers “are becoming more forceful about requiring staff to work in-person.” The CEO in question is in “constant communication with employers such as banks and other financial-services firms. He is hearing that CEOs “want their employees back in-person.”

Read Article Here.

Return to the Office Gaining Momentum Surveys of Canadian CEOs Suggest

Although the headlines usually focus on dramatic statements by high profile companies like Amazon, the reality is that the day-to-day chore of rebuilding company culture by persuading employees that the best results come from in-person collaboration. Surveys of Canadian CEOs suggests that progress is quietly is taking place in many small and medium companies.

Read Article Here.

New York’s Journey With Congestion Pricing Begins…

Much has been said about the pros and cons of congestion pricing as a solution in Toronto. But after years of on again off again decisions on whether to proceed with congestion price in New York the big day has arrived. In anticipation of the launch of congestion pricing in New York City, this article presents a well-balanced outline of what it will mean for commuters and travellers alike in that city. The assumption of course is that there are options for most commuters that are better than paying the charge – underscoring the need for Toronto to keep adding to its transit network.

Read Article Here.

One Manhattan Resident Who Supports a Congestion Charge

Focusing on the post-pandemic impact of increased car traffic – and higher pedestrian casualties – a local says he is willing to pay his share to help deter car trips to one of the world’s busiest core areas. Despite continuing threats to its implementation and the strong likelihood that the incoming president will remove the congestion charge, it was implemented as planned on January 5, 2025. (But editors, pleeeease stop referring to Robert Moses as a city planner.)

Read Article Here.

Thinking On Top of the Box to Address Congestion

Swiss engineers have invented a novel way to avoid highway congestion during routine maintenance. With the help of two large trucks, a mobile bridge is put in place to allow traffic to drive up then down while repairs are made below the bridge. So simple but it works!

Read Article Here.

Is Remote Work Being Used to Reward Higher Paid Staff?

A recent study in the U.S. concludes that higher paid workers aspire to and receive a better range of work from home privileges from employers. According to a Stanford economist, days devoted to remote work by lower paid staff have dropped by 16 per cent over the past year while their higher paid colleagues continue to work from home on a more regular basis, with a drop in remote days of only five per cent.

Read Article Here.

Toronto Housing Starts Can’t Match Those in Other Cities

Despite lots of hot air blowing out of Queen’s Park exhorting municipalities and builders to create more housing, the latest cross-country comparison suggests that places like Edmonton are outpacing high priced, constrained economies like Toronto’s.

Read Article Here.

You Can Bring a Horse to Water, But…TOD Not In Longueil’s Future Right Now

A decaying suburban mall sits nearly empty in a community on Montreal’s south shore, frustrating the mayor and others who see it as a golden opportunity to redevelop Complex Cousineau. With a newly constructed light rail connection from the south short to downtown Montreal, demand for housing is inching upwards and sites like this mall are “crying out” for redevelopment says the mayor of Longueil. But the owner won’t even return phone calls to the municipality, telling the Globe that it his right as a property owner to let it sit virtually empty.

Read Article Here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - November 15, 2024

Average weekly - 73%

Peak Day - Wednesday 84%

Low Day - Friday 44%

November continues to see a modest increase in the return to the office and we expect the data will confirm that trend into December and the holidays. We will be producing one more Index for the balance of November. In the past December is a month when consistent data is difficult to obtain and the return to the office is normally reduced due to statutory and personal holidays. As a result, we will not publish the Index for the month of December.

We continue to plan a Forum on the 24th of January on the Impact of Remote Work on Cities and Congestion, the two most pressing issues our data providers are requesting. If you are interested and would like to attend and/or comment, please let us know by return email.

Enjoy this week’s Articles of Interest.  

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Be Mindful of the “Human Doom Loop” Caused by Remote Work

Is the Pendulum Swinging Away From Remote Work?

The Globe’s year-end review of commercial real estate prospects is possibly the most optimistic take on the world of office leasing and landlord headaches for quite a while. Tucked into this comprehensive review is news of a KPMG review of Canadian CEOs that suggests working from home may be losing its appeal – at least for those in the C-Suite.

Read Article Here..

Metrolinx Tells Toronto That Momentum for New Stations has been Lost

Smart Track isn’t talked about much these days but amid murmurs that Metrolinx has botched design for the East Harbour station, Mayor Chow was recently informed that key stations are to be “deferred,” a sign that problems with mismanagement of the Crosstown extend further than previously thought.

Read Article Here.

Will Downsview Start to Shift the Centre of Gravity in Toronto?

Plans led by Canada Lands Company and a public pension plan are moving ahead, to bring more customers to one of the underappreciated transit-blessed neighbourhoods in the City. But no indication that this massive project is looking to benefit from district energy to add to the list of potential plusses.

Read Article Here.

Controversial Views on Remote Work – No Smoke Without Fire?

A Silicon Valley exec looked under the hood of his company (and those run by his peers) and concluded that employees working remotely “weren’t actually doing much work.” Citing a stat that suggests more than 90 per cent of U.S. federal workers have not returned to the office, Peter Thiel wonders if the new administration is on to something with respect to productivity problems within the civil service.

Read Article Here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - November 1, 2024

Average weekly - 72%

Peak Day - Wednesday 84%

Low Day - Friday 43%

TTC subway ridership growth relative to pre-pandemic levels in the downtown core is recovering well. Union station’s ridership on the subway exceeds pre-pandemic levels by over 8%. This is good news for the TTC and reflects the consistent trend shown in the Occupancy Index. It also mirrors the daily data for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Subway ridership (over 80% relative to pre-COVID use) exceeds the Occupancy Index during the weekday and is attributable to the growth of residential living and tourism in the heart of the city post COVID.

Through November there appears to be a continued increase in the return to the office. We expect the Index to peak during November with the normal decline in December.

We continue to hear your thoughts on the impact of congestion on the commute and your ideas on solutions. SRRA will conduct a conference on January 24th on the Index and congestion solutions with expert panels on both subjects, please indicate your interest in attending by reply email.

Enjoy this week’s Articles

Your SRRA Team

Links to Articles of Interest

Be Mindful of the “Human Doom Loop” Caused by Remote Work

A thoughtful article from a U.S.-based writer suggests that remote work could be behind a widespread trend towards unhappiness (and anger?) in the U.S. (and not unknown here in Canada). She notes that reliance on virtual therapy vs in-person visits in the U.S. has exploded by more than 2000 per cent since the pandemic – drawing a straight line between this arcane stat, remote work and the mood of the country.

Read Article Here.

Virtual Villages for Digital Nomads – Save on Commuting Costs But What Price Office Culture?

Communities built up around the notion that “digital nomads” who have fled big city office jobs need decent co-working spaces with good internet and support to find housing are actually “a thing” according to Wired magazine. This must be the ultimate product for the “me” generation. Guess company leaders are on their own when seeking to build a company culture.

Read Article Here.

Mayor of Paris Takes on Heavyweight Cars but Excuses EVs

Mayor Anne Hildago, of 15-minute city fame, is no shrinking violet when it comes to disrupting the status quo. Having originally backed e-scooters she subsequently looked at data showing accident rates involving pedestrians and yanked support for scooter rentals. Her latest move involves upping the cost of parking for SUVs and other “overweight” vehicles (known in the UK as Chelsea Tractors). But she has had to bend her principles slightly, giving a break to EVs, known to be heavier than gasoline cars. Meanwhile her efforts to install cycling infrastructure appear to be paying off with congestion levels in the city of light dramatically down.

Read Article Here.

Give Thanks to Public Transit Urges Bloomberg

With a different take on America’s Thanksgiving Holiday, Bloomberg news quotes a philosopher to underscore the value of public transit. “Hell is other people,” Sartre wrote, and public transit serves them up aplenty, but chance encounters with unfamiliar folk are the joy of cities. Be thankful.” For Torontonians fed up with gridlock it is worth remembering a time when Toronto was a must-visit place for transportation experts keen to understand the secret sauce that (at the time) was keeping the city moving.

Read Article Here.

Future of Less Competitive Office Buildings Called into Question

Owners of class B and C level office buildings are feeling the pinch when it comes to holding on to tenants, let alone attracting new ones. This is the tale of one landlord convinced that investments in new amenities and other upgrades to the well-located 121 King Street W will show dividends. “Encouraging a return to office” was Max Rosenfeld’s motivation for acquiring and then investing in this 1980s office building. But in the face of stubborn high vacancy rates brokers are wondering about the future of other older properties in downtown Toronto and elsewhere needing to compete with shiny new assets.

 Read Article Here.

Peter Principle Alive and Well as Verster Leaves for a New Rail Job

Phil Verster CEO of Metrolinx has been recruited for a top job elsewhere, leaving the Crosstown still without an opening date, as well as other criticisms, that include a lack of transparency over how decisions are communicated. Michael Lindsay is stepping in to run things until a new CEO is found.

Read Article Here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - October 15, 2024

Average weekly - 72

Peak Day - Wednesday 83%

Low Day - Friday 41%

Thanksgiving through Christmas marks a busy time for business. The Index continues to monitor more attendance in offices downtown. The Articles of Interest, this week, reflect strengthening commercial office market trends. Issues raised during the height of COVID, ‘do we need office space’ and ‘the conversion frenzy’ are beginning to wane as markets recover and employees are spending more and more time in the office.

Congestion, however, continues to increase in the region largely due to population growth. Political attention on this issue is narrowly focused on the fight over bike lanes when the experts are calling for more attention to improving public transit. More transit use frees up space on our roads a win-win for both drivers and commuters. The low hanging fruit in the region is maximizing and coordinating all our transit networks.

Stay tuned for an announcement of a conference hosted by SRRA in the New Year on the Index and Congestion Solutions.

Enjoy this week’s Articles

Your SRRA Team

Links to Articles of Interest

Traffic Congestion in Toronto Really Is Getting Worse

International business leaders note that Toronto’s transit system is too small for a city our size. So says the head of the Toronto Region Board of Trade. The Globe commissioned traffic-analytics firm INRIX to review the data: they found that although more commuters are taking transit, travel times for drivers have increased dramatically. Car volumes have not increased significantly since before the pandemic, suggesting that the problem is reduced road capacity due to bottlenecks caused by many more vehicles delivering goods, food, groceries; roads squeezed by construction sites, lengthy repairs to major roads, and poor coordination between “public entities,” different ministries, utilities. An uptick in the size of vehicles doesn’t help, with SUVs and pickup trucks taking up more road space. (Neither does very low average vehicle occupancy.) The region’s top transportation expert, Prof Eric Miller, notes that congestion in major cities is to be expected and can be a sign of “economic health,” but when congestion passes a certain threshold, the impacts can be “detrimental.”

Read Article Here.

The Pendulum Swingeth….

Cushman and Wakefield in the U.S. is taking steps to prepare for a “market turnaround” that anticipates improved prospects for commercial real estate investors.

Read Article Here.

And in the GTA as well?

Avison Young comments on changing dynamics that show positive signs particularly in suburban parts of the GTA. “Workspace density is increasing again,” is the conclusion.

Read Article Here.

But Bid to Cut Red Tape Barrier to Office Conversions Voted Down

Bill 102, which recommended the removal of a section of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) that exempts changes to building use based on building height, was voted down by the government. A successful amendment to the EPA would have “cut red tape, speeding up conversions by up to two years,” according to its Liberal MPP proponent. According to JLL, downtown Toronto vacancy rates now exceed suburban rates. If the three preceding articles leave your head spinning, get in touch with SRRA’s Iain Dobson (idobson@srraresearch.org) for a reality check!

Read Article Here.

Bait and Switch? 65-storey Condo to Replace 13 Storey Office Building in the Financial District

The applicants describe this 65-storey condo as “mixed use,” but the office component included in an earlier iteration of the proposal that secured approval for a taller building has now been ditched in favour of more condo floors with lower ceiling heights! The applicant is asking for an exemption from the OP requirement to replace office space (a policy currently under review).

Read Article Here.

TMU Launches World’s First “Digitally-enabled building”

Toronto Metropolitan University’s SCITHub will “develop, test, and showcase the full range of smart building technologies to support the homes and offices of the future. There will be three areas of research in the building; smart city technology development, buildings for health and wellness of people and supporting net-zero carbon goals.”

Read Article Here.

Check a Report’s Sponsor Before Deciding…

The following conclusion sounds cut and dried: “Recent research conducted in a real company showed that employees who worked from home three days a week experienced higher satisfaction and lower attrition rates compared with their colleagues who worked from the office. This reduction in turnover saved millions of dollars in recruiting and training costs, thereby increasing profits for the company.”  But this Harvard-inspired research was sponsored by Trip.com whose business model benefits from remote work.

Read Article Here.

Controversy Over Remote Work Productivity Continues

“When a manager says, ‘I need you to come back to the office,’ what they’re really saying is, ‘I lack the ability to work with you remotely.’ It reflects their skills, not your productivity,” says an Australian consultant.

Read Article Here.

This Article Worth Reading If Only To Learn a New Word

The concept being discussed is an idea to treat office space like a full-service hotel. The new word is “amenitized.” Really?

Read Article Here.

“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - October 1, 2024

Average weekly - 71

Peak Day - Wednesday 81%

Low Day - Friday 41%

The Index is the measure of the number of people who are in the office compared to those who are working remotely, with the exception, of people who are not in the office for reasons such as business travel, holidays, sick days etc. The Index is now at a point where on average employees who have the choice between performing daily work tasks at home or in the office are now in the office 3.5 days a week.

Our data shows that there is a higher number of people who are in the office 5 days a week than attend the office less than 1 day. While mandates to return to the office are still not being adhered to universally, they are having greater impact this Fall. The days employees are attending the office is beginning to balance out as this Index’s data shows. Friday remains the lowest in-office day, but Mondays are showing more activity in downtown Toronto.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Worldwide perspective on the return to the office:

A city’s density, the size of people’s homes and cultural norms are among the factors that affect hybrid work patterns.

Read Article Here.

Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

The next stage of getting workers back at their desks includes incentives like $10 to the charity of their choice — and consequences like poor performance evaluations if they don’t make the trek in.

Read Article Here.

Public service union's court challenge of return-to-office order will proceed

A Federal Court judge has ordered a full hearing be held in the Public Service Alliance of Canada's challenge to the federal government's return-to-office directive.

On Thursday, Justice Glennys L. McVeigh dismissed the federal government's attempts to quash or halt the challenge, saying both sides needed to argue the matter based on a full record

Read Article Here.

Workplaces getting creative in trying to lure staff back into the office with extra leave, free lunch and more

Employers are stepping up their game — and offering creative perks — to entice staff back into the office. Some measures on offer include extra annual leave, kombucha on tap, free food, a virtual golf course and tennis lessons.

Read Article Here.

90% of companies say they’ll return to the office by the end of 2024—but the 5-day commute is ‘dead,’ experts say

The debate over whether or not to return to the office is far from settled — and yet, the push to get employees back to the office is getting more aggressive.

Read Article Here.

“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - September 15, 2024

Average weekly - 69%

Peak Day - Wednesday 79%

Low Day - Friday 39%

We are often asked ‘how does the Occupancy Index in Toronto compare with other cities’? While that is difficult to research accurately due to the lack of comparable data, a group in London has put together a data rich analysis which is part of this weeks Articles of Interest below.

The trend is clearly toward more in-office work particularly for organizations who are competing globally in rapidly growing and competitive industries. The week is beginning to balance out as this Index’s data shows. Friday remains the lowest in office day, but Mondays are showing more activity in downtown Toronto.

Look forward to both of these trends continuing.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

London & Toronto Lag Behind Paris Singapore and New York Returning to the Office:

A comprehensive, data-rich report by Centre for Cities in London on office presence levels shows that London trails its international competitors. Far behind Paris. Off the pace with respect to Singapore and New York. And just ahead of Sydney.  Toronto compares with London with slightly less in office work. Citing the many disadvantages associated with low levels of attendance, the report calls for the mayor and national leaders in Britain to get behind less remote work and help to shift attitudes in order to get those numbers up. Is there a message here for Toronto?

Read Article Here.

BMO and TD To Invest in Training Facilities in Downtown Toronto

The cost – and opportunity cost – isn’t trivial, so the decision of two major banks to target the need to train and re-train their employees as a way to promote employee retention is worth noting. In the case, the company has opted for a new facility downtown over a hard to reach suburban location that was unpopular with staff. With a 500-seat auditorium, look for BMO to mimic the success of the Globe and Mail in creating a state of the art facility for hire.

PwC Report Throws Cold Water on Idea that In-office Presence Builds Company Culture

Myth Busters! One of North America’s top consultancies surveyed company leaders (mostly in the U.S.) and concludes that being present in the office helps build and improve company culture is a worthless idea. No word from leaders who dispute that.

Read Article Here.

KPMG Goes in the Other Direction – Hybrid Work On Its Last Legs Say CEOs

Then there’s the views expressed in a KPMG report that suggests that hybrid work has a three year shelf life. While that could be wishful thinking, this report underscores how it is possible to present diametrically opposed opinions depending how you ask the questions.

Read Article Here.

Ontario Government Decides to Purchase Underutilized Office Buildings in Toronto

Causing experts to scratch their heads, the provincial government is contracting to purchase an unspecified number of well-located office buildings in downtown Toronto. No mention of conversion potential but efficiency of government operations cited.

Read Article Here.

London Ontario Offices Suffering High Vacancy Rates

More than three quarters of London’s office inventory is in the downtown, in part thanks to supportive planning policies, but with vacancies at more than 30 per cent in downtown, city officials and landlords alike are getting concerned, blaming post-COVID trends to reducing company footprints when office leases expire.

Read Article Here.

AI Trendsetters Take a Stake in Manhattan

The rapid spread of AI in almost everything we do took another step forward recently when OpenAI chose Manhattan as its first “urban” stronghold on the East coast. No word on where the “model training” will take place and any impact on the hydro bill.

Read Article Here.

“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - September 1, 2024

Average weekly - 67%

Peak Day - Wednesday 78%

Low Day - Friday 35%

The slow down in the return to the office in the summer comes as no surprise. Early data in September, however, has some interesting new developments. Most notably the increase in both Mondays and Fridays, we expect to report more on this in the next Index.

Companies are beginning to implement policies with a noticeable increase in in-office work and the data is beginning to show that. The number one objection to returning to the office we are observing is the length of time it takes to commute. Road blockages, due to construction, maintenance and other factors are central to the conversation in the news today.

This is only part of the problem. Transit operators are increasingly challenged to provide better service a critical component of the commute.  More transit use less congestion on the roads.  Please feel free to send in your comments and thoughts on these important challenges facing the region. They will be treated in confidence and will contribute to the research SRRA is conducting on solutions.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Globe Columnist Skewers Public Service Union for Its Stance on Remote Work

“Okay, team, what’s the best way to make the case that we shouldn’t go back to the office, two years after everyone else did?  .... Why don’t we call for a boycott of Ottawa small businesses that are still trying to scrape themselves off the pavement after COVID-19 shutdowns, the convoy siege and the abandonment of downtown?” “This tone-deaf and spiteful campaign got the blowback it deserved. A day later, PSAC changed the post, replacing “Buy nothing” with “Buy local,” but what were they thinking?

Read Article Here.

Special Delivery! Amazon Ramps Up Requirement for Attendance to Office

Three days didn’t do it for Amazon’s management team. CEO Andy Jassy stated that “The change is necessary to “invent, collaborate and be connected.” Other moves include modifying the ratio of managers to “contributors” and getting rid of the provision that allowed employees to work from anywhere four months of a year.

Read Article Here.

Has Toronto Lost Its Way? Better Transit Seen as One of the Necessary Fixes

While praising Toronto’s many strengths, this spirited opinion piece also cites a growing reputation as one of the most congested, least efficient downtown on the planet. The city’s “Dysfunctional public transit and traffic have become synonymous with Toronto.” This is a problem.

Read Article Here.

Amid Confusion Over The One, Pinnacle’s SkyTower Project On Track to be Tallest Yet

With 2,500 condos, 1.5M office space and room for a hotel, SkyTower at 1 Yonge Street will eventually be the city’s tallest mixed-use building at 95 storeys. Although The One continues to grow in height, its future is mired in mystery.

Read Article Here.

New York’s Payroll Mobility Tax Might Not Stretch to Cover $65B Investment

The MTA laid down a significant marker to signal the size and scale of the investment needed to upgrade and expand the city’s aging transit system. Officials will be looking to senior levels of government to plug the gap but are taking credit for the bold move to institute a new payroll tax to help fund the MTA’s needs.

Read Article Here.

“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - August 1, 2024

Average weekly - 68%

Peak Day - Wednesday 77%

Low Day - Friday 38%

The Index has remained steady at or near 67% for most part of the summer. This apparent levelling off of in-office work is consistent with the trends of the past two summers. Looking into the tea leaves we do expect the Index to show peak days over 80% in the near future with a weekly average reaching into the 70% range. Employers have more confidence in a higher amount of office attendance in the Fall.

Congestion continues to paralyze the entire region and impact not only the return to in-office work but mobility for any purpose. Your comments have been coming in steadily and reveal a frustration with mobility in the Region and a concern that not much is being done about it. Road blockages, due to construction, maintenance and other factors mask the reality that roads have a finite capacity in any major city in the world when population densities reach the levels Toronto has experienced for decades now.

The cause of congestion is a result of population intensification, underinvestment in alternatives to the car, and no long-term strategy to move goods and services efficiently. Please feel free to send in your comments and thoughts on these important challenges facing the region. They will be treated in confidence and will contribute to the research SRRA is conducting on solutions.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Big Brother Overseeing Remote Workers?

A report by Toronto Metropolitan University researchers has found that a staggering 70% of remote workers indicate that they are subject to some kind of electronic surveillance from their employers. The impacts of excessive surveillance on an employee’s mental health can be severe, the report concludes. Ontario has begun a process to require written agreements about monitoring, but more attention is needed, the researchers conclude.

Read Article Here.

Pot Calls Kettle Black – Surprising Reversal from the Postal Child for Digital Meetings

To Zoom or not to Zoom. That is the burning question. The company whose video conferencing tools quickly became a verb in common usage during the pandemic has told its staff that they must spend more time in the office to facilitate cohesion and productivity. “We believe that a structured hybrid approach — meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams — is most effective for Zoom," a spokesperson said. A recent report from JLL suggests that 200,000 tech employees in North America and beyond are being called back to the office for two to three days a week. Three times that number in other sectors are facing similar pressures.

Read Article Here.

Citi Ramping Up Campaign to Attack Hybrid Working

In both London and New York, Citi is signalling its growing dissatisfaction with hybrid working, telling staff that it is going to start monitoring building entries at multiple locations. “Staff were told managers will be able to use the data to determine the effectiveness of its hybrid work policy, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. Consistent flouters face disciplinary action from bonus adjustments to termination.”

Read Article Here.

Downbeat McKinsey Reports Suggests Hybrid Trends and Negative Impact on Real Estate Could be Permanent.

A new report from global giant McKinsey looks at the performance of 30 “super star cities” around the world and concludes that the impact of hybrid and remote work is affecting everything from retail sales to real estate values. Toronto is not among the cities examined. Underlying factors like inflation are also a factor, although this insight is not captured in the headlines. “Untethered from their offices, residents have left urban cores and shifted their shopping elsewhere,” the authors report. “Foot traffic near stores in metropolitan areas remains 10 to 20 percent below pre-pandemic levels.” The resulting knock-on effects of these trends are thought to undermine asset value, McKinsey concludes.

Read Article Here.

Changing Dynamics Across the Region – Buttonville to Focus on Employment….

Perhaps a surprise, given the plans for residential once contemplated by owner C-F, but with Buttonville’s airport due to close down in a few months, Markham has announced that the site will be zoned for employment uses, not housing. Regardless of the land uses, Buttonville presents a headache for transportation planners as there are no expectations for rapid transit, with only bus options on the table. Nevertheless, with the housing pendulum seemingly directed exclusively to housing in nearly every part of the region, even having a conversation about the need to provide for jobs makes for a pleasant change.

Read Article Here.

….But Elsewhere, Housing Remains the Main Draw

As documented in the article below, many of the region’s retail malls are due to be redeveloped for housing (Square One, Bayview Village, Agincourt, Galleria, Agincourt etc.). The terminology may indicate ‘mixed use,’ but the reality is that most redevelopment proposals are actually ‘residential’ with a minimal smattering of retail at street level to justify the softer sounding ‘mixed use’ sobriquet. Perhaps it is time to re-think our land use terminology? Does it make sense to refer to a 70-storey condo with a bit of ground floor retail as ‘mixed use’? In contrast, Toronto is home to a small number of genuine mixed-use buildings such as Queen’s Quay Terminal, Manulife Centre, and 914-920 Yonge Street. All three have office, residential and retail.

Read Article Here.

Housing Crisis Across North America Driving Canada and U.S. Governments to Intervene

Both Canada’s Prime Minister and the U.S. President announced plans to intervene in the housing market at the end of July – areas that are traditionally the domain of provincial and State governments. Trudeau promises infrastructure and affordable housing dollars, and Biden does the same, while also taking aim at process delays.

Read Article Here.

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Read Article Here.

The Well Earning Praise, Expanding the Reach of Deep Lake Water Cooling

A genuine mixed-use project (substantive office uses, significant residential and more than ancillary retail plus green space amenities), the Well is approaching completion at a critical time in the evolution of downtown Toronto. Its proponents believe that the extra care taken with urban design, the provision of amenities and an eye for the quality of working life will help stimulate interest among workers to return to the office. Also important is that the project is built around the latest thinking on the use of energy – with a massive investment in expanding Enwave’s deep lake water cooling network. This will ensure that Allied and investors will be in line to reap a ‘green premium’ in terms of return on investment.

Read Article Here.

Beware Dramatic Story Headlines Fostered by Conflicts of Interest

IWG’s stated mission is to become the world’s leader in helping companies transition to hybrid work.  So, we should not be surprised that a recent IWG survey found that hybrid work is “growing in popularity.” Perhaps a bigger surprise is that Toronto is said to tie with Barcelona as an ideal place to pursue hybrid work. SRRA’s regular summary of articles on the future of work (etc.) strives to provide a balance of viewpoints but we also want to highlight when survey findings are less than objective.

Read Article Here.

Getting From Anywhere in 416 to Anywhere in the 905 By Transit Still a Challenge

A fascinating new interactive map illustrates how getting around the GTA by transit can be a time-consuming enterprise if your origin and destinations are not on a rapid transit route. Read Article Here.

In Praise of Commitment and a Sense of Place: Read This Long Love Letter in Praise of an Extraordinary City Builder

This article will be well worth the ten minutes or so it will take you to read it. The late Richard Ravitch was a visionary New York developer who did all the things that politicians only talk about. He built affordable apartments. He argued for and successfully gained tax increases to be spent on transit. Ravitch even found the time to chair the MTA at a critical point in that institution’s evolution that saw reinvestment in transit when the city was facing bankruptcy. “Mr. Ravitch’s death leaves a void. As he co-wrote last fall, ‘the city faces a bleak future of billions of dollars in lost commercial property tax revenues as companies downsize to meet the needs of employees who may prefer to work at home only a few days a week, or full time.’ At the time, New York City office occupancy was around 40 percent; it has since risen, only to about 50 to 60 percent.” He believed in Manhattan and spent his entire life leading by example to illustrate the importance of place, smart investing and building coalitions of the willing, regardless of political stripe. The author adds: “Successful cities also need moderately wealthy men and women — the small-scale developers, the mid-tier of corporate executives — who are motivated to engage in public service not because they want something like tax credits, but because they are fed up with their own quality of life.” And to adapt the author’s conclusion to Toronto’s situation, does our “precarious balance of locally minded wealthy individuals, civically aware property owners, competitive (provincial) and local politics and nimble, smart policy advocates still exist to steer the city toward bread-and-butter solutions — fiscal soundness, decent transit, continuity of basic public services — rather than quick fixes?”

Read Article Here.

   “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - June 15, 2024

Average weekly - 67%

Peak Day - Wednesday 77%

Low Day - Friday 36%

Summer is holiday time which in the past has resulted in a plateauing effect on the Occupancy Index. So far, this summer appears to be no exception. In calculating the Index, we have accounted for vacation time, but in previous years we have heard from our data sources that the real reason the Index levels off in the summer is a general relaxation of in-office policies. We will see if that occurs this summer.

 We thought you would be interested in some of the research on congestion that SRRA is conducting. Recently, some public commentators have suggested that more people are driving to work than before COVID causing the intolerable levels of congestion, not only in downtown Toronto but on the highways across the Region. The question is why and what drives these choices. Our research suggests that the problem outside of Toronto’s business district is the lack of alternatives rather than a deliberate decision to drive.

 In downtown, however, surface parking spaces for commuters have been in consistent decline for 25 years, leading to the conclusion that post COVID, a strategy for improving the movement of goods and services would likely have a greater impact on congestion than efforts to further restrict parking. If you have thoughts and or data on this issue, let us know.

 Please feel free to send in your comments and thoughts on these important challenges facing the region. They will be treated in confidence and are very much appreciated.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Everything Old is New Again. Boston Re-Sets the Clock on Urban Planning

After 70 years of relying on a development-oriented planning system, the Mayor of Boston just announced the creation of a brand-new department that will…wait for it…actually do planning. Her goal is “to make Boston a green and growing city depends on planning together for our brightest future,” Mayor Wu said. The new planning department will have planning and zoning, development review, urban design, and real estate. Should this news be forwarded to Queen’s Park?

Read Article Here.

Meanwhile in Great Britain…

One of the first set of radical changes will be to Britain’s planning system, the new government has said. Changes (more to follow in the next links) include “swift changes to unblock infrastructure and private investment.”

Read Article Here.

Look to the U.S. Market for Resilience. Tales from Weary Execs

Biznow, the ubiquitous newsletter that provides many of the links we share with you on a regular basis, recently updated it coverage of how U.S. real estate execs are handling on-going uncertainties facing office landlords and developers. Our favorite insights are those captured under the heading “Survive till 25” – a group of battle-seasoned who are placing all their bets on it being better next year. Just do not mention the upcoming election.

Read Article Here.

Goldman Sachs: the Worst is Over

Call it bravado but Goldman Sachs is saying office market recovery is on the horizon. To back that up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's U.S. Composite Business Index is saying much the same thing. What do landlords in Canada say to this?

Read Article Here.

Vancouver to Experiment with a Twist on the Office Conversion Story

Office space glut. Hotel room shortage. This may be a tale that can only be told on the West Coast, but the City of Vancouver is going the extra mile to remove barriers to conversions – relaxing seismic upgrades, other changes to the building code related that acknowledge the communal nature of the product, which is going to be potentially popular with visitors from Asia.

Read Article Here.

Is Toronto Confused About What Makes a Good Neighborhood?

Criticisms of the plan for Villiers Island – which foresees up to 9000 residential units packed into 8.5 ha – are calling the latest iteration of the plan “too timid,” with not enough effort to include “affordable” housing. But let us remember similar complaints about Vancouver’s Olympic Village saw a late-breaking increase in density that some observers now regret. The project’s priority was “sustainability,’ rather than “affordability.” Which legacy does Toronto deserves?

Read Article Here.

   “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - June 1, 2024

Average weekly - 67%

Peak Day - Wednesday 77%

Low Day - Friday 37%

Office attendance reached two/thirds of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since the outbreak of COVID. This benchmark may very well be the standard throughout the summer. Companies continue to adjust in-office policy to balance culture and productivity with the personal benefits of remote work enjoyed by their employees.

We have received numerous comments about the daily commute. They highlight road congestion as the number one issue, whether is by bike, bus, subway, car hire or personal automobile travel, commute times appear to be rising. More and more of you say it’s a major inhibitor for those who can choose what day tho come to the office or whether to come at all.

SRRA is continuing research on reducing congestion and improving the daily commute. Please feel free to send in your comments and thoughts on these important challenges facing the region. They will be treated in confidence and are very much appreciated.

We will be highlighting some of the research throughout the summer….

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

 Check Your Calendar! Yes, it is Indeed 2024 – JPMorgan Chase To Double Its Office Footprint

Perhaps the location is the difference? The planned expansion to accommodate 400 employees is happening in Florida’s West Palm Beach!

Read Article Here.

The GenZ Generation May Be Misunderstood

People born between 1997 and 2012 have been labeled ‘GenZ.’ Experts at UBC point out that this is the generation that “grew up completely in the tech age. They not only are skilled with it but understand how to create it. That makes them critical as developers and researchers,” one expert points out. “Forget about clichéd attempts – like casual Fridays or pizza parties – to support teams and build culture. Gen Z tend to be entrepreneurial, so appeal to their desire to learn and grow in their careers by assessing their needs, having open conversations about what they want and providing them with the tools to get there.” Sounds like a plan.

Read Article Here..

Here’s My Honest Appraisal of the Situation – Appraisal Techniques Under Scrutiny

Building appraisals have traditionally been just another chore in the mix of items that influence property and development decisions. Current market uncertainties are putting a spotlight on the appraisal profession.

Read Article Here.

U.S. Developers Opting for Mass Timber

Claiming that mass timber office buildings are leasing more readily than other more traditional office buildings, the key according to Hines and Howard Hughes Holdings is that mass timber is securing premium rents – even in locations where the rest of the office market is in the doldrums.

Read Article Here.

Ontario Line Budget Skyrockets?

Construction costs for the Ontario Line are already ballooning but is anyone keeping tabs on the costs incurred by businesses affected by construction tangles. Is the Toronto equivalent of the Big Dig? The difference in Boston was that the U.S. government picked up most of the tab. Check out SRRA’s ideas for providing better mobility through “quick relief.”

Read Article Here.

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - May 15, 2024

Average weekly - 65%

Peak Day - Wednesday 75%

Low Day - Friday 37%

Not a great deal of change in the first two weeks of May.

We have been asking contributors to comment on the commute to the office. Though not a sophisticated survey and comments are often personal in nature, the overwhelming response is that road congestion is intolerable and getting worse.

The first link in the Articles of Interest section below is a summary of the some of the solutions being put in place by the City of Toronto to help move traffic along.

SRRA is continuing research on reducing congestion and improving the daily commute. Please feel free to send in your comments and thoughts on these important challenges facing the region. They will be treated in confidence and are very much appreciated.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

City of Toronto Turning to Tech to Tackle Traffic

Tales of gridlock and travel misery for drivers have long since moved beyond the anecdotal. But in a cash-strapped administration, there is rarely good news. Led by forward-thinking bureaucrats, innovative new approaches offer an additional bonus to taxpayers: the costs of experiments in drone and AI-driven camera technology capable of modifying worsening conditions in real time are being borne by tech companies in partnership with Telcos.

Read Article Here.

Facing Huge Pushback, New York Stops Move for Manhattan Congestion Charge

Despite having invested millions in the preparations to collect stiff fees from car commuters and no other means to fund the re-investment requirements of the MTA, the Governor has put the congestion charge plans on “pause” for an indefinite period.

Read Article Here.

 Public Service Alliance Equates “Right to Work Remotely” with Voting Rights, Maternity Leave

Equating remote work with the fight for the “eight-hour workday, “maternity leave” and “the right for women to vote,” the head of the public service union dismisses critics of his union’s push back against the benefits of in-person working as “tired arguments.”

Read Article Here.

Federal Workers to be Reminded About “Values and Ethics Bible”

Noting that thousands of federal employees were “on-boarded” virtually during the pandemic, some observers believe that current complaints about having to come to the office at least three days a week may be linked to poor understanding of what it means to be a civil servant. “The core values are respect for democracy, respect for people, integrity, stewardship and excellence,” argues clerk of the Privy Council. “The challenge is to build a culture around those values to guide the work of public servants in a rapidly changing world.”

Read Article Here.

 The Federal Government Doubling Down on the Potential to Convert Offices to Housing?

Although it is a long way from a budget statement to action on the ground, this Globe and Mail analysis adds fuel to the fire sale represented by its office portfolio.

Read Article Here.

 Finch LRT to Open Before Eglinton But Potentially “doomed” Say Critics

The ill-fated O line in Ottawa has similarities to Finch in terms of the rolling stock, which some say bodes badly for the future of Finch,

Read Article Here.

 New Housing Bill About to Become Law

Ontario’s plan to tinker with planning legislation continues with the passage of Bill 185, which, among other things changes the rules for the amount of parking required for certain types of development. It also shifts the centre of gravity for decisions on where to invest in infrastructure to facilitate intensification.

Read Article Here.

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - May 1, 2024

Average weekly - 65%

Peak Day - Wednesday 74%

Low Day - Friday 38%

There was very little change in the data for the last 2 weeks of April. Tuesday and Thursday are increasing but the peak day remains Wednesday. Fridays showed a slight decrease while Mondays increased by 3 points.

Those employees who are not in the office due to holidays, business travel, sick days etc. and are working outside of the office is almost a third of the office-based workforce. We expect that with new workplace attendance policies gradually coming into effect over the spring and summer, we expect the out of office workforce to be decrease to approximately 25%.

The most frequently asked question is, ‘what does the Index mean’ The Index is a measure of how many people are coming into the office relative to the number who would have come to the office to work prior to the COVID shutdown in early 2022. Should the Index reach 75% that would mean the average employee is now working one out of every four days at home, whereas before COVID they would have worked a 5-day week in the office. If you require more clarification, please contact us.

Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Federal Workers Baulk at Requirement to be in Office Three Days a week

Promising a “summer of discontent,” unionized federal employees are crying foul over a requirement to be present in the office at least three days a week. Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe emphasizes devastating impact on downtown Ottawa as workers stay home. The aspirational plan to convert many federal offices to housing will make things even worse, he says.

Read Article Here.

 Globe Editorial Supports Return to Office for federal workers

 “The negative effects on municipal economies and operations (of working from home) are much more clear. Downtown Ottawa is a shadow of its pre-pandemic self; ridership on its transit system, as with many other cities, has yet to fully rebound. The government’s move to increase office working hours will put more people on transit, and more dollars into the downtown.

 Read Article Here.

 Office Conversions Not Necessarily to Condos CBRE Reports

 This Globe columnist highlights CBRE research that says 43% of office conversions are for hotel, educational and other high value uses – not just condos.  Keller also points to the opportunity for suburban employers to move into newly vacant spaces downtown to offer 20-something workers relief from “the living hell” represented by suburban locations.

 Read Article Here..

 Skeptical Take on Office to Condo Craze in Manhattan Offers Important Insights

 The king of conversions, who has been honing his craft for decades, cynically creates tiny condo spaces designed to cater to young college grads who only plan to stay a year at most. As the inventory of such conversions expands, what does this say for future demographic needs?

Read Article Here.

 TTC to Expand 24 Bus Routes

 Important improvements in bus service driven by political need.

Read Article Here.

London To Get Many More Tall Buildings

Responding to an increase in the number of workers in the City since the pandemic and high demand for high quality office space, the City is looking to dramatically increase inventory of tall buildings “to help accommodate the hospitality, leisure, social and cultural destinations that are flocking to the City.”

Read Article Here.

Different System, but Does New York’s Approach to Protecting Affordability Merit a Closer Look?

Following the collapse of a bank supporting investments in affordable housing, New York is tapping its employee pension fund to maintain the portfolio.

Read Article Here.

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - April 15, 2024

Average weekly - 64%

Peak Day - Wednesday 74%

Low Day - Friday 39%

The return to the office has not yet plateaued in Toronto. Some downtowns in North America are experiencing a levelling-off of occupancy in office buildings related to remote work but this does not reflect the experience in Toronto’s downtown core.

Some recent alarmist commentary has reflected a limited historical appreciation of the Toronto commercial real estate market. The recent vacancy rates in downtown Toronto have never come close to the vacancy of 24% recorded in 1994. Vacancy then was enhanced by a world-wide trend of relocating back-office space to low-cost markets often off-shore.

That trend had a disruptive impact on the market in Toronto’s Financial District in the late 1980s and early 1990s and ultimately contributed to an explosion of new office space in the 905 (See SRRA’s video: “Region in Transition” at  https://srraresearch.org/a-region-in-transition-2014).

Both the recent high vacancy and that in the mid-1990s occurred alongside supply issues, which the industry has always managed as part of doing business. The impact of remote-work to date has not been nearly as significant as the movement of back-office space from downtowns to low cost back-office markets was in the past. Nor, we believe, will it prove to be as structurally enduring.

Vacancy in office space has levelled off and absorption figures are reducing vacancy in prime buildings. Mondays are beginning to show signs of increased activity as CEOs increasingly require employees to make one of their “minimum of three days in the office” a Monday (or a Friday).

 Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

U.S. Firm Identifies Extensive Vacancies as Toronto’s Peak Day Occupancy Stuck at 70%

Globe and Mail controversially hires Washington-based firm to analyze what everyone already knows: tenants have always taken the opportunity to relocate to newer buildings with more amenities if they can afford to do so and have a demonstrated need to upgrade. Although remote work trends continue to challenge landlords, actual vacancy levels today are still less scary than the 1990s when downtown employers fled to the suburbs. The Globe’s graphics are great, though.

Read Article Here.

Olivia Chow in the ROB – City Designing Waterfront LRT in Expectation of Future Funding

Reflecting SRRA’s position on congestion woes, the ROB reported that the TomTom Traffic Index (ranking more than 350 cities worldwide) puts Toronto as the third worst city for slow traffic. Chow highlighted decision to get a jump on the Waterfront LRT. “We desperately need more, better funded transit,” the ROB concluded.

Read Article Here

WeWork Saga Continues as Company Prepares to Emerge from Bankruptcy

A brilliant concept? But poor execution. How will history judge the travails of WeWork?

Read Article Here

Lease Renewal Cycles in U.S. Market Will Favour Employers: New Report

With suggestions that aggressive deals done today will impact landlord balance sheets for the foreseeable future, credit companies report that tenants are in the driving seat to “unprecedented” levels.

Read Article Here

Doubts Over Potential Opening Date Continue to Cloud Future of Eglinton Crosstown

When concrete information is scarce, rumours move quickly to fill the vacuum.

Read Article Here

Slow News Day? Nope, A Serious Answer to Balancing the Office Budget with Pre-Owned Office Furniture

An article about used furniture may not initially grab your attention, but this is worth the effort. Faced with shorter leases and a desire to keep up appearances, landlords and employers are finding ways to keep nearly new furniture out of landfills.

Read Article Here

Globe Architecture Critic Tackles Toronto’s Treatment of Transit-Oriented Development

Comparing how development in two neighbourhoods in the vicinity of Ontario Line stations will proceed, Alex Bozikovic points out that Danforth and Pape (where it intersects with Line 2)  is primed for considerably less density than an equivalent site in less affluent Thorncliffe Park. SRRA has written about the failure to densify along Line 2 in the past.

Read Article Here

Pressure on Rogers To Avoid Leaving Houses Adjacent to Offices Vacant

Toronto Council will consider an unusual proposal from a local historian to expropriate vacant housing owned by “multi-billion dollar corporation” Rogers to build affordable housing. Instead, could this be an opening for the Rogers Foundation as the need for more offices seems unlikely.

Read Article Here

Does AI Threaten Future of Older Data Centres?

Tales from troubled sites in the U.S. suggest that institutional owners see dim future for older data centres as impact of AI continues to grow. What does this mean for Canadian sites?

Read Article Here

Canada to Dedicate $1B+ to Convert Federal Office Portfolio to Housing?

Although the budget has still be debated in the House, the government is doubling down on its support for remote work for federal employees by signaling its intention to convert Post Office office real estate to housing.

Read Article Here

Liberal Government’s Plan to Convert Offices to Housing Not Unique

The same week that the Liberals dropped a government offices to housing bombshell, word that New York is considering a “budget deal” to prompt office to housing conversions led one investor to suggest that up to 40M sq ft of offices could be affected.

Read Article Here

Housing to be Demolished to Make Room for 59-storey Tower

Perhaps the appeal of replacing a dozen or so townhouses in Toronto with 700 condo units will see this proposal approved, but is this a good way to play the numbers game? Just two weeks ago another developer announced plans a 45-storey tower with two-bedroom units of 481 sq ft each!

Read Article Here

Atlanta Plans to Add Stations to MARTA Line Could Trigger Infill Development

Atlanta set an innovative precedent (for the U.S. at least) two decades ago with TOD partnerships that encouraged suburban employers to relocate on transit. New plans could build on those gains. Read Article Here

Offices Occupied Only Three Days a Week? No Problem Says HubbleHQ

A new start-up is offering landlords and employers a way to offset “cost” of unused office space when employees show up only three days a week with an innovative booking program to allows employers to pay only for space they are using – day by day.

Read Article Here

BIZNOW Report Signals Green Loans/Sustainable Buildings Less Attractive to Investors

Although this report is U.S.-focused, the message is not good news for advocates seeking to change the dial on how offices, investment properties are conceived and executed. It was hoped that development plans that prioritize carbon-reducing technologies could be a new trend. Fears of “greenwashing” deter institutional lenders.

Read Article Here

But New EU Directives Point in the Opposite Direction…

Tough new provisions in Europe are set to be in place by 2030 in an environment where global strife makes energy efficiency a priority.

Read Article Here

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - April 1, 2024

Average weekly - 62%

Peak Day - Wednesday 71%

Low Day - Friday 37%

The last week in March saw renewed activity downtown reflected in this month’s Index; we expect that to continue in April.

Our anniversary series of commentaries continues. Last week we prepared commentary on who is coming back to the office. The third of these commentaries addresses mobility challenges and the impact of COVID on congestion. We hope these expand commentaries will be useful for you.

Congestion is unacceptably high in all parts of the region and getting worse. At critical times of the day, roads are almost impassable, and transit is operating well below capacity. Travel patterns have changed. Remote work may appear to be allowing for less congestion in transit but certainly not on roads. Solving extreme congestion is now even more complicated because people’s workday travel plans are less predictable.

At the outset of the pandemic those who choose to travel abandoned public transit and resorted to a higher use of the automobile. This worked well when the Index was below 25% but as the return to the office everywhere in the region accelerated through the summer of 2023 the roads began to approach unacceptable levels not found since before the 2020 lockdown. In the downtown core of the city there is a finite inventory of parking spaces which, in theory, should keep congestion down. Try to explain that to drivers taking an hour to travel 2 kilometers. In the suburban areas of the region there is very little if any transit network connectivity to provide relief to highway congestion.

Is the answer to divert the movement of goods and service to low peak use of roads or create opportunities for centres where delivery companies can drop off and redistribute goods more efficiently and conveniently in highly dense areas? 

Construction restrictions on road use, signaling enhancements, ramp access, and other traffic solutions are being explored throughout the region. In some cases, municipalities are making great strides. But the impact of these improvements is minimal.

Experts from many cities agree: roads have a finite capacity and when density in cities increases, roads have limits. The simple answer to congestion is for travellers to use other modes of travel than the car. Sounds easy enough.

Remote work may ease congestion on transit and to a lesser degree on roads, but remote work at the levels we see in the Index will not have the same impact as efficient and robust public transit networks.  Remote work has not been cited in most studies because the impact on where and how people travel has yet to become apparent. The landscape keeps changing.

Toronto is experiencing population and employment growth at unprecedented levels. This presents challenges and opportunities. Improvements in road management are always welcome and that will help but unless there are convenient and accessible alternatives things won’t get better. The major challenge is to transit operators, starved for both ridership and operating revenue, is keeping pace with growth.

The simple fact of the matter is we need to support transit operators and find ways to increase transit use. Remote work won’t have much of a real impact on the continued intensification of this city and the region, but population growth will.

 Your SRRA team

Links to Articles of Interest

Shifting Travel Patterns in Downtown Vancouver Keeping Restaurants in the Red

Although Vancouverites have rediscovered downtown post-pandemic they are visiting less often and spending less in response to rising food prices, a new report by the U of T’s School for Cities has found. The report, which compares recovery rates among hundreds of downtowns across North America, places Vancouver ahead of Toronto, citing the benefits of a large resident population downtown. Restaurants and entertainment venues remain the hardest hit.

Read Article Here..

Foot Traffic Higher in Pricier Digs? Amenity-Rich Offices Generate More In-Office Activity

Although not a scientific assessment, a report from New York that looked at 25 buildings with highest rents suggests that employers’ expectations for investing in the quality of office space pay off in terms of workers showing up in-office.

Read Article Here.

Office Utilization Across U.S. Federal Government Barely in Double Digits

A new report from the Public Buildings Reform Board suggests that government leaders are not pushing employees to return to their offices. Some buildings in Washington D.C. have 12% occupancy.

Read Article Here.

Manhattan Landlords Struggling as Employers Reduce Office Footprint

Availability is uncomfortably high suggest some landlords, although the numbers cited include older, less competitive buildings.

Read Article Here.

WeWork Close to Emerging from Bankruptcy – Puts a Brave Face on Its Future

By significantly reducing the number of locations across the world from 500 to 300 plus or minus, WeWork expects to be ready for a more positive future, reports suggest.

Read Article Here.

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - March 15, 2024

Average weekly - 59%

Peak Day - Wednesday 68%

Low Day - Friday 37%

Your SRRA team.

A Mid-March Drop

If the Index was intended for on-going analysis over a longer period of time, we could apply a seasonally adjusted component to account for significant holiday periods like the Mid-March school break, but we have not and therefore the data for the 1st two weeks of March shows a significant, but reasonable and explainable, drop in line with the same period in 2023.

Our anniversary series of commentaries continues. Last week we prepared commentaries based on our articles from around the world and research here on the future of office space markets. This week we have prepared commentary on who is coming back to the office. The third of these commentaries will be included with the April 1st Index and will address mobility challenges and the impact of COVID on congestion.

We hope these expand commentaries will be useful for you.

Who is leading or trailing the Index?

When we started to collect data at the outset of the pandemic, we made a commitment to every data contributor that we would respect their confidentiality. As a result, our comments in this summary will be deliberately very general. Few companies measured how many employees were in the office on a daily basis before the pandemic making the initial collection of data difficult and leaving the on an on-going post-pandemic basis measurement of remote work without a benchmark. To this day, there are many different ways companies are measuring the return to the office and just as many policies related to when, and how much, remote work is allowed. Equally uncertain is how many of the mandates regarding in-office work are being followed especially when there are few discernible penalties for non-compliance.

This uncertainty makes predicting long term trends still very difficult. What we do know of the return is that employees are still largely making their own decisions. This is most apparent in situations where there is either a competitive challenge to retaining the job or a job where competitive success measures are a factor in job performance. In large institutional entities, where there are widely different job functions, the return is uneven determined at the lower management level. Mid-sized companies in highly competitive market situations are clearly leading the return to the office.

Since the removal of government restrictions on travel and congregation, the return to the office has steadily increased in most cases. However, we are seeing a leveling off in large institutional settings where job functions are at less risk and accommodating the benefits of not commuting to the office – family organization, elder care etc. – are, and will likely continue to be, allowed as long as productivity can be retained. This levelling phenomena may last for some time.

Personal networking to build corporate culture continues to be a challenge with large scale remote work. Some argue, however, that the younger generation is far more adapt at networking through technology rather than in person. How far this goes to lessen the degree to which work is performed in an office environment is again too early to tell. What is evident is that individuals with established business networks, clients and colleagues are more likely to embrace remote work. What the data shows is companies with an abundance of either established networks or emerging new networks in technology are more likely to have a higher degree of remote work.

Finally, weak attendance on Monday and Friday is starting to become a problem for many companies. To counter this we are beginning to see Mondays and Fridays included with mandates to return to the office. The immediate impact of this on employee acceptance is still to be determined. Knowing if spreading the week back out to five days is going to occur will shed more light on how the Hybrid Model evolves.

Links to Articles of Interest

Shifting Travel Patterns in Downtown Vancouver Keeping Restaurants in the Red

Although Vancouverites have rediscovered downtown post-pandemic they are visiting less often and spending less in response to rising food prices, a new report by the U of T’s School for Cities has found. The report, which compares recovery rates among hundreds of downtowns across North America, places Vancouver ahead of Toronto, citing the benefits of a large resident population downtown. Restaurants and entertainment venues remain the hardest hit.

Read Article Here..

Foot Traffic Higher in Pricier Digs? Amenity-Rich Offices Generate More In-Office Activity

Although not a scientific assessment, a report from New York that looked at 25 buildings with highest rents suggests that employers’ expectations for investing in the quality of office space pay off in terms of workers showing up in-office.

Read Article Here.

Office Utilization Across U.S. Federal Government Barely in Double Digits

A new report from the Public Buildings Reform Board suggests that government leaders are not pushing employees to return to their offices. Some buildings in Washington D.C. have 12% occupancy.

Read Article Here.

Manhattan Landlords Struggling as Employers Reduce Office Footprint

Availability is uncomfortably high suggest some landlords, although the numbers cited include older, less competitive buildings.

Read Article Here.

WeWork Close to Emerging from Bankruptcy – Puts a Brave Face on Its Future

By significantly reducing the number of locations across the world from 500 to 300 plus or minus, WeWork expects to be ready for a more positive future, reports suggest.

Read Article Here.

  “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - March 1, 2024

Average weekly - 63%

Peak Day - Wednesday 73%

Low Day - Friday 40%

Anniversary Index – continued increase in downtown office occupancy.

 For the next few Indexes, we have prepared commentaries based on our articles from around the world and research here in Toronto which we believe are the three key takeaways from the four years of COVID impact on downtown Toronto. First office space; then who is coming back to the office; and finally, new mobility challenges and the impact of congestion. But first:

Challenges for the Office Industry

It has been a perfect storm for the office space industry since March 2020. In the beginning, building managers had to find ways to accommodate access to buildings while maintaining safety for workers and conforming to evolving public safety requirements. We then experienced a flood of new construction planned and initiated before the pandemic, which caused an immediate, significant increase in vacancy. This all combined with a plethora of sublets, very few of which were taken up and a new-found interest by major news outlets in the health of office industry. All of this led the general public to conclude that office buildings were a thing of the past.

The business world was also challenged from geo-political disruption and trends towards deglobalization, a transformation in the digital economy, rising interest rates to combat inflation, policy initiatives to decarbonize built form, and finally, uncertainty over the extent to which remote work would have long-term impacts. Safe to say that the last four years were not a great time to be in the office industry.

Industry leaders are now saying at conferences and in interviews worldwide that we have reached the point where confidence is returning, and the commercial office industry is making the adjustments needed to rebound. In other words, we have reached an inflection point in the commercial real estate world of peaks and valleys.  Most markets have stabilized from high vacancy levels which were high but not the highest: the mid-1990s earned that dubious honour. Businesses are working through needs for in-office accommodation, redundant buildings have been identified, many of these are being repurposed.

The role of cities has always been to connect people, and role of the office building in doing so will continue to be an important part of downtowns like Toronto’s, notwithstanding the appeal of remote work for those who can. 

In the next two Indexes we will comment on:

·       Leaders in the return to the office.

·       Challenges of post pandemic mobility & congestion.

Your SRRA team.

Links to Articles of Interest

Could Toronto’s CEOs Learn from this UK-Based Leader? Change the Dial and Focus on the Positive

Telling it like is or should be, one of Britain’s best-known CEOs vented his frustration with fellow leaders at a recent event in London: “This is a great country with brilliant places to invest, and London’s the most exciting city in the world. We should be loud and proud about what we’ve got already and build on it for the future.” Could a similar story be told here at home?

Read Article Here.

World’s Largest Real Estate Conference Calls for Investment to De-carbonize Housing

Top investor offers advice: “Residential is a key piece of the puzzle, and investors globally need to prioritize decarbonizing their portfolios because the sector is responsible for around 26% of all emissions,” he said. “What we need to do is work out how to balance decarbonization while maintaining acceptable costs for occupiers and continuing economic growth.”

Read Article Here.

Who is Winning the ‘Amenities Arms Race’? JLL Report Sheds Light

The past few years have seen a flurry of investment in all categories of office buildings as landlords and employers look for ways to increase occupancy and leasing activity. The list of ‘winners’ is mostly intuitive (fitness centres with showers rate better than those without, for example) but worth a look.

Read Article Here.

Office to Res – Move Over, It’s Time for Office to Industrial to Shine

This may not be a universal solution, but keeping office buildings that are past their best before date in active employment uses can make a lot of sense, especially when there is a shortage of good industrial sites….this is how Dallas-Fort Worth is tackling the issue.

Read Article Here.

Toronto’s New Focus on Developing TPA Sites for Housing Illustrates Need for Better Policy Framing

The pushback was quick as defenders of need to maintain parking supply reacted negatively to council decision to review TPA sites for housing. A carefully framed policy would emphasize the potential to include parking in a multiple use development. And one hopes, insist on leasing the sites rather than selling them.

Read Article Here.

London Meeting of Minds Reveals Key Insights into What Influences Major Players Need for Office Space

Summed up in this quote from Morgan Stanley official, citing company’s decision to renew at

Canary Wharf: “The sustainability credentials, the accessibility for staff, the overall footprint of the space, the flexibility of the lease. The actual rent is quite low down the pecking order for our organisation. It’s those other aspects that make up the [profit and loss] impact for us.”

Read Article Here.

Match Your April Fool’s Pranks to Your Company’s Culture

Sage advice from someone who has seen it all, with suggestions on jokes that can actually add value rather than land you in hot water.

Read Article Here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - February 15, 2024

Average weekly - 62%

Peak Day - Wednesday 72%

Low Day - Friday 38%

We are a few weeks away from the 4th Anniversary of the day work from anywhere except the office began. We are planning a special edition of the Index for March 1st. Expect the following highlights in the “Anniversary Index”:

  ·      Positive news about the future of the office building industry.

·       A breakdown of leaders in the return to the office.

·       Challenges facing congestion and increasing transit use.

 As for the data in this week’s Index, there are some notable trends:

  ·      Some institutional plateauing has occurred below the Index.

·       More return mandates include obligations to work at least Monday or Friday.

·       Employers see the Index at 70% by the summer.

For those who holiday around March Break enjoy the break.

Your SRRA team.

Links to Articles of Interest

Hybrid Work Said to be Feeding Office Vacancies - Colliers

Citing a new report from Colliers Canada that links rising office vacancies to hybrid work, Colliers suggests that only well-located buildings on transit with lots of amenities can persuade hold-outs to spend more time in the office. This article also poses a fundamental question: ‘What do workers want?’ Presumably, continued employment is a given.

Read Article Here.

You Are Not Imagining This! A Massive New Office Tower Under Construction Adjacent to Union Station!

This is not an early April fool…As this article explains, when completed the second tower of CIBC Square will rise to 50 storeys, making it the tallest office building under construction in the country…that’s right. It isn’t a condo! Ironically one of the joint venture partners is Ivanhoé Cambridge, a subsidiary of the Caisse, which has been busily trimming its office portfolio. (see next article)  Pinnacle’s SkyTower project will top out at 105 storeys.

Read Article Here.

Caisse CEO Offers a Bleak View of Office Real Estate

Terms like ‘office bloodbath’ attract attention, but the CEO’s negative take on the office market (including selling off much of its Ivanhoé Cambridge portfolio) is nothing compared to troubles linked to the organization’s rail-based projects, with subsidiary Alstom having to issue public apologies for ‘service interruptions’ on its new Light Rail project in Montreal.

Read Article Here.

Shades of the ‘Search for the Holy Grail’ – WeWork Finds New Ways to Survive

Like the knight who challenges his attacker to do his worst while steadily losing limbs, WeWork has managed to persuade landlords in New York and Boston to modify office leases.

Read Article Here.

Gloomy Headline Belies Underlying Hopeful CBRE Messages Re Office Leasing

Despite the negative tone of this headline, a careful reading of the article reveals that CBRE and others see hopeful signs for downtown Toronto office lease rates. No major projects underway so vacancies bound to return to more normal levels.

Read Article Here.

StatsCan Reports Ontario Losing Younger Population to Other Jurisdictions

Faced with rising costs of living, Ontario’s youth is pulling up stakes for greener pastures. StatsCan says that Alberta the only Canadian province to gain from net migration patterns.

Read Article Here.

Citadel Hedge Fund to ‘Lean In’ to Working in the Office

“We can be more productive at home, but innovation happens in the office and I think that's the difference,” says newly appointed ‘workplace officer.’ Speaking at a real estate conference, Paul Darrah dismissed trend to ‘doomsday scenarios’ for the office market, saying his company to launch major new office towers in Boston and Miami.

Read Article Here.

Paying Attention to the Data is Key – JLL Reports that High Vacancies in a Small Number of Buildings Are Weighing Down Averages

Headlines in New York frequently cite record high vacancy rates but JLL suggests that the numbers can be misleading. A small pool of underperforming office buildings is bearing the brunt of lost occupancy and dragging down absorption data, JLL reports.

Read Article Here.

New York and Miami Leading Higher Numbers Returning to the Office

Using cell-phone data (not as accurate as SRRA’s methodology), Placer.ai reports higher February numbers year over year in U.S. cities with a focus on financial services but still shy of pre-COVID numbers.

Read Article Here.

Canada’s Tax Man Paying Attention to Your Work Habits

After granting tax concessions that allowed remote workers to claim home office expenses during the pandemic, the CRA is now ruling that “Employees must have worked remotely more than 50 per cent of the time to be eligible for the deduction,” the Globe reports. Curiously, repainting your space is a valid expense but claiming for an ergonomic chair isn’t. Someone should point this out to Health Canada.

Read Article Here.  

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”

Occupancy Index - February 1, 2024

Average weekly - 60%

Peak Day - Wednesday 70%

Low Day - Friday 35%

Research continues to uncover more complexity than meets the eye for both advocates of remote work and those wishing for higher levels of in-office work. It isn’t as straightforward as many would have suggested just 6 months ago. The employee advantage in the marketplace of 2021 and 2022 is rapidly changed to a more balanced market. What was once described as the Great Resignation is becoming known more accurately as a period of reassessment.

Fewer people are switching jobs based on remote work policies even though companies are pressing for more in-office work. Europe’s return to the office figure are higher in most surveys by approximately 10% than American based office workers.

As we approach the eve of the fourth anniversary of the ‘Great Office Shutdown’ the new normal for remote work is still being defined, We do expect to see more evidence of the relationship between in-office work as a percentage of remote or work from home later this Spring.

Your SRRA team.

Links to Articles of Interest

Bank of America Sends ‘Letters of Education’ to Staff Who Haven’t Yet Returned to the Office

The letters, referencing Workplace Excellence Guidelines, were sent to employees who have failed to meet the office work requirements to be in the office a minimum of three days a week despite numerous reminders to do so, according to the Financial Times.  "Failure to follow …. expectations applicable to your role … may result in further disciplinary action,” FT reported.

Read article here.

British Firm Suggests that U.S. Employers Winning the Battle to Force Return to the Office

A UK cloud=based software company surveyed 100 companies in the U.S., finding that fully remote office work is trending down. Despite being unpopular, RTO mandates appear to be winning, the survey found.

Read article here.

Lack of Bandwidth Could be Focus of Post-Pandemic Investment Decisions

Access to quality digital infrastructure became a hot topic during the pandemic as the world shifted to remote work. As the workplace continues to search for equilibrium, landlords whose buildings cannot meet today’s expectations could have a problem, experts suggest.

Read article here.

We-Work Helping Employers With RTO

The co-working sector is shrugging off problems with unpaid office leases to focus on programs aimed at supporting trends to long-term hybrid working, providing the tech support to allow “companies of all sizes make executive decisions on how to use their space as effectively as they can.”

Read article here.

We Work Influenced Tenant Expectations for Office Space

“If we look at the positive impact of WeWork, then it changed tenant expectations of what is possible. You don’t have to work for Google to be in a cool office,” notes an executive from a rival firm.

Read article here.

Cosmetic Giant L’Oréal Says ‘Non’ to Le Long Weekend

Although the company made three days a week its baseline for over a year, a new crackdown will see mandatory attendance on Fridays at least twice a month, with executives suggesting that too many were viewing WFH on a Friday as the start of a long weekend.

Read article here.

 “The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at idobson@srraresearch.org,”