About half of large multinationals are planning to cut office space in the next three years as they adapt to the rise of homeworking since the pandemic.
A Knight Frank survey of executives in charge of real estate at 350 companies round the world that together employ 10mn people found that, among major groups cutting their footprint, the largest number was aiming to reduce space by 10 to 20 per cent.
“Better but less space is probably the strap line for the larger organisations,” said Lee Elliott, a commercial real estate expert at Knight Frank. “It is not the death knell of property markets because what you are seeing is a shortfall of supply, and therefore an increase in rents, for the prime buildings.”