The future of the office sector will remain uncertain into 2023, as tenants who have not fully committed to a hybrid or remote work policy flock to higher quality assets, rising interest rates hamper new supply and transaction volume, and layoffs continue amid ongoing recessionary fears.

A new report from CommercialEdge predicts office-using employment growth will decrease as layoffs, particularly in the tech sector, continue this year. Between January 2021 and July 2022, office sectors added an average of 117,000 jobs a month, the report states, but in the last five months, they have averaged just 25,000 jobs per month.

What's more, "even as some firms become more forceful in bringing workers back into the office, many have fully committed to hybrid and remote work policies," the report notes. "This will be another year of uncertainty and change in the office sector as it moves toward a post-pandemic status quo."