SF office space subleasing up more than 65%, but market likely won’t bottom out for another year

With tech companies like Google and Uber extending work from home policies into summer 2021 and others like Slack and Square choosing to offer remote work permanently, it’s easy to wonder who is going to fill those sprawling downtown office buildings.

Just this week, Twitter listed 104,850 square feet of its San Francisco headquarters for sublease. Last month, Pinterest cancelled a 490,000-square-foot lease in SoMa at a hefty price of $89.5 million.

“Will everything go back to the old normal? In my opinion no,” said Jay D. Shaffer, Partner & Co-Founder of Colton Commercial & Partners. “The future is uncertain for a lot of people and every company will decide what’s right for them. But this is just the beginning. It takes a long time for commercial real estate to bottom out.”