The new analysis of the impact of long-term remote work after the pandemic and its potential impact on cities indicates that more remote work means fewer commuters – and that means less revenue for cities and potential challenges for the commercial real estate sector.
The University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics found the post-pandemic work-from-home shift will lower spending on meals, entertainment, personal services and shopping, cutting spending in major cities by 5% to 10% of overall pre-pandemic spending.
The trend could have multimillion-dollar implications for commercial real estate, labor market trends, city government budgets and the culinary sector, among others. Cities will have to adjust and should act quickly to adapt to the potential decline in spending caused by shifts to work-from-home arrangements.
But what is a challenge for large urban areas that traditionally see lots of commuters is an opportunity for overlooked rural and suburban areas.
Read article: More Companies are Embracing Work from Home. Downtown Spending and CRE Could Suffer, San Antonio Business Journal (5/25/21)
