1 Year Into Pandemic, These Real Estate Questions Remain

Law360 (March 11, 2021) Questions about the future of office space and the viability of hotels are among the unknowns for the real estate sector, one year after COVID-19 began its rapid spread across the U.S. [Experts] say a year into the crisis, investors are still in a wait-and-see mentality as it remains unclear what sort of demand there will be for physical office space once the pandemic passes. The future of the brick-and-mortar office remains a major unknown as many companies have had success with the work-from-home model. Once the pandemic passes, it remains unclear just how many employees will opt to return to physical offices, and that in turn makes it difficult to predict supply and demand — and ultimately pricing. "We're seeing some companies consider the idea of permanent working from home across the board. For any large-cap company, that's hard to pull off over the long term," said Alain R'bibo, a partner at Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. "I think [people are] going to crave coming back to the office." Read More