Manhattan Office Building Visitation Report - New Metrics for a More Timely and Forward-Looking Picture of Office Visitation

Over the last several years, REBNY has utilized data from Placer.ai to document office visitation rates in Manhattan in the wake of the pandemic. This research, and other data from Placer.ai comparing New York City to other leading cities, has demonstrated that New York City’s office recovery leads the country. But while New York City’s recovery has been substantial, office visitation continues to lag 2019 levels. Looking at year-end 2024, we see that the visitation rate was 72% of pre-pandemic levels, up from 60% when REBNY first started tracking this metric in fall 2023.

As these overall visitation rates move closer to pre-pandemic norms, we seek to find new ways to gain insight into this changing office market. Return to office analysis has focused solely on measuring recovery relative to the 2019 baseline. With the goal of being more forward-looking, we are introducing new visitation metrics focused on market, class, and weekday patterns, all to provide a clearer lens as we enter 2025.