Across major firms, real estate has become the single largest controllable cost, yet one of the least strategically governed. And it’s under more scrutiny than ever.
Since the pandemic disruption of 2020, commercial real estate (CRE) has wrestled with an identity crisis. Remote and hybrid models have proven durable: Surveys show roughly 30% of all paid workdays in the U.S. still happened at home in 2024.
At the same time, large coastal metros saw a spike in domestic outmigration in 2020-21 as workers sought cheaper, calmer locales. With in-office demand falling and urban fundamentals uncertain, many corporations trimmed aggressively.
One commercial financial services client cut about 35% of its annual occupancy costs and shrank its fo...
