Office leasing was tepid in January as concerns over the Omicron variant continued to plague occupiers, but it's not all bad news: a recent uptick in tenant requirements has tempered the slowdown, suggesting that the pause may be temporary. 

"Despite this temporary slowdown in lease signings in December and January, the more forward-looking indicator—the increase in companies in the market searching for new office space—bodes well for the office-market recovery soon regaining momentum," said Nicole LaRusso, CBRE Director of Research & Analysis and lead author of the report.

According to the most recent CBRE indices tracking leasing activity across the 12 largest US office markets, cities that had been making progress in leasing maintained the status quo in January while those who had struggled continued to do so. CBRE's US tenant in the market index ticked up to 89, up three points over December's numbers, with Houston, Boston and Denver all exceeding pre-pandemic levels. In addition, Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle, Chicago and Manhattan all hit 90% or more of their pre-pandemic numbers.