‘Zombie’ offices could turn into 400,000 new apartments for families. That’s almost double the number of new US units in a typical year – By Eliza Relman and Juliana Kaplan (Insider) / Aug 7, 2023
- The rise of remote work, high interest rates, and climate regulations all pose problems for office buildings.
- But the commercial real estate crisis could be a major opportunity to expand the US housing supply.
- A new study found that more than 2,000 US office buildings could be converted into up to 400,000 apartments.
Lonely office buildings languishing away during the remote and hybrid work boom could have a new life — and it might mean your next apartment could be both good for the environment and your wallet.
A new working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research by Arpit Gupta, Candy Martinez, and Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh finds that more than 2,000 office buildings in American downtowns could be converted into eco-friendly apartment buildings. Those conversions could yield up to 400,000 new apartment units, and, at minimum, over 170,000 new units — a major boon in cities simultaneously inflicted with housing crises and empty office towers.
The authors found that about 11% of office buildings in the commercial centers of the 105 most populous US cities would be suitable for conversion to residential homes. Those “zombie” properties — unrentable office buildings that are sitting empty, just accruing costs — could be made into 200-unit apartment buildings using conversion processes that would take less time than a new build.
