REBNY report breaks down Manhattan office building visitation data by weekday

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) released a new analysis of Placer.ai location data for Manhattan office buildings. The report compares 2023 building visitations mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday) to Monday and Friday to prepandemic baselines.

Based on a same-day visitation rate through the first 16 weeks of 2023, mid-week employee workplace visits are on average 73% of their comparable levels in 2019. The report complements REBNY’s quarterly Manhattan office building visitation report and is part of REBNY’s ongoing effort to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of changing office building utilization levels.

The report also compares office employee visits to total office building visits (which include visits from employees plus visits for non-office-uses in the same buildings such as retail, schools, medical facilities and entertainment). The gap between mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday) and Monday, Friday narrows when visits to these other uses are included. 

“This report makes even clearer that employee visitation rates continue to rebound strongly during mid-week days, while total office building visitation rates are also growing throughout the week, even amid hybrid work policies,” said Keith DeCoster, director of market data and policy at REBNY. “Total building visit rates are key to understanding the full impact of office properties in New York City’s economy as the nucleus for so many retail businesses, cultural destinations and a growing number of schools and medical facilities.” 

Additional findings from this report include:

• Employee workplace visits peak on Tuesdays, reaching 70% of pre-pandemic baselines.
• The gap in employee visits between mid-week days and Monday and Friday became noticeable in the spring of 2022 and widened throughout 2023.
• Total building visits paint a different picture of office building utilization – rates are more consistent across the entire week and align more closely with other daily data such as mass transit ridership.

REBNY’s Q1 2023 Manhattan Office Building Visitation Report released in May studied Placer.ai location data in 250 Manhattan office buildings representing approximately 180 million s/f. The report highlighted a year-over-year increase in building visitations, while also finding that visitation rates have remained relatively stable for the last several quarters. Of note, the report also found a widening gap between activity in prime Class A properties compared to other property classes.