Remote work and the hollowing of city centres
Remote and hybrid work appear on 53 recent papers across the economics and management journals, but only 12 of them carry a city, housing, commuting, office or rent keyword. Office vacancies are at record highs in many downtowns. Where did spending, rents and tax bases move, and are the shifts permanent?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 53 papers carry a remote-work, working-from-home, hybrid-work or telework keyword (25 in economics journals, 17 in management): "remote work" on 38, "working from home" on 18, "hybrid work" on 13. Only 12 of them also carry a city, urban, housing, commuting, downtown, office, rent or real-estate keyword.
Questions
- How much of the fall in downtown spending moved to suburbs and how much disappeared, and did restaurants and shops follow the workers?
- Have office-to-residential conversions and rent falls in city centres brought residents back?
- What happens to city budgets that depend on office property taxes and commuter spending?
Data that could help
Card transaction data by location, office vacancy and rent data, mobile phone mobility data, and municipal tax revenues.
Next step
Compare the recovery of card spending in downtown and suburban areas across US cities by their share of remote-capable jobs, from 2020 to 2025.