To further support our clients as they navigate the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses and their recovery, Colliers Real Estate Management Services (REMS) initiated a national sentiment assessment of the tenants in our managed portfolio, surveying 445 tenants. Of the tenants surveyed, 163 were office tenants, 148 were retail tenants, and 134 were industrial tenants across 66 million square feet of commercial real estate in Canada.
Over the coming weeks, we will be releasing three separate reports dedicated to the retail (download the previously released report here), office, and industrial asset classes based on our findings. The second report in our three-part series, Office Recovery: Productivity, Working from Home and Vacancy, focuses on how the pandemic has impacted employee productivity, working from home, and future office vacancy.
Key Takeaways:
- Office tenants are 1.2x more likely to expand their use of technology compared to other asset classes
- Following a significant shift to work from home, tenants feel employee productivity has decreased by 22.6%
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An ongoing work from home approach for offices could lead to a potential reduction in tenant office space needs by an average of 8.5% over the next eight years
- We are seeing office tenants re-evaluating their space needs going forward, with 47% of our office tenants looking to downsize
- Post-recovery, most office tenants will change their approach to working from home and the way they use their spaces
