Despite a persistently high national vacancy rate for office buildings, the underlying story in commercial real estate is not one of surplus, but of a shifting calculus between employers, employees and what both groups need from the physical workspace. The 2025 CBRE Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey paints a nuanced picture of an evolving office landscape where compromise and customization have become paramount.
One of the most striking changes highlighted by CBRE is the narrowing gap between employer expectations and employee behavior. In the 2025 survey, 72% of organizations reported meeting their office attendance goals, up from just 61% last year. While employers still expect workers in the office an average of 3.2 days per week, employees are showing up about 2.9 days—a difference that's shrinking, especially in smaller companies. "It's actually a very big deal, and something that to me feels a little underreported," said Jamie Hodari, who runs building operations and experience at CBRE. "Hybrid work is compromised work. It's a method that reflects a compromise between employer needs and workers' desires. We are much closer to a compromise," Hodari explained, likening it to two partners agreeing to live in Westchester rather than Brooklyn or Vermont.
But closing the attendance gap is only part of the challenge. CBRE's survey found that 87% of organizations say current attendance patterns are creating strategic headaches, most notably the lack of vibrancy on non-peak days. Office floors hum with activity mid-week, but tend to feel empty and uninspiring on Mondays and Fridays—a logistical and cultural puzzle for both employers and designers. "Cracking the code of how to make the office feel vibrant on off-peak days," Hodari acknowledged, "is very important. A lot of American offices feel awesome on Wednesdays at this point, but pretty pokey and a little uninspiring on Mondays or Fridays. I've seen very few clever examples yet of companies who have found a way to crack that particular code."
Design and listening to employee feedback have emerged as critical levers. "Companies have to prove they’re listening," said Hodari. "If employees are articulating what would make this a really vibrant space, companies need to be more vocal and clear about the ways they are directly responding to that."
He also pushed back against the notion of one-size-fits-all workplace perks, emphasizing a return to culture-driven customization: "Each company has its own culture, and we’re now in the phase where I think companies need to do a better job of saying, 'What really is the JP Morgan style? What is the Google style?'"
If the inside of the office is changing, so too is the nature of occupancy. Assigned seating is falling out of favor, with only 25% of companies still using it—a steep drop from 56% in 2023. The employee-to-desk ratio is projected to rise sharply, with nearly three-quarters of organizations expecting more than 1.5 employees per seat by 2027, a clear sign that hybrid work is driving more efficient space utilization.
Landlords and tenants find themselves negotiating in this new reality, where quality trumps quantity. "There’s this dichotomy in the market," explained Manish Kashyap, CBRE's global head of leasing. "The statistics are, there's all this vacant space in the market, and yet, when many of our clients look for the right office space, they’re unable to have the right number of options." Kashyap pointed to scarcity in "well located, highly desirable offices." Though vacancies nationally stand near 19%, vacancy rates for prime space are closer to just 14%, and such spaces account for less than 10% of the country-wide office stock. "That's where a lot of companies are looking to upgrade their offices," Kashyap said.
As for what constitutes "prime," Lenny Beaudoin, global head of workplace strategy at CBRE, agreed that location is paramount but quickly added that experience, design, and amenities play increasingly crucial roles. "The offices are a social environment," Hodari chimed in, "and CBRE’s research validates that. Perks aren’t just a mishmash—they need to reflect the culture and vibe that attracts people to a particular employer."
The need for quality extends to the amenities arms race. More than half of the surveyed occupiers said they would reject a building that lacked public transportation access or parking, and about 40% would reject spaces without food and beverage options. While features like outdoor terraces, fitness facilities, and sustainable operations are less likely to be absolute dealbreakers, they do play a significant role in rent negotiations and employee experience—a clear marker that real estate decisions are increasingly employee-centric.
Expansion plans, too, reflect renewed optimism. CBRE found that 67% of occupiers expect to expand or at least maintain their space over the next three years—a five-year high—while the share contracting has steadily dropped since its peak in 2023. Small companies, long the engine of new leasing activity, are especially bullish, as 96% intend to maintain or grow their portfolios.
Taken together, all of these points point to a commercial office sector maturing into its hybrid reality. The era of blanket solutions and static design is giving way to a new logic: spaces must be tailored to culture, optimized for attendance patterns and located in desirable buildings loaded with amenities.
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