Boston office activity reaches highest levels since the pandemic

Credit: Data: Placer.ai; Note: Includes some offices located in cities' greater metropolitan areas; Chart: Axios Visuals

Boston saw its single busiest in-office period since the pandemic last month.

Why it matters: Office occupancy keeps creeping up nationwide — though growth has slowed, and may never fully return to pre-pandemic levels.

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Driving the news: Boston office visits rose to 69.5% of July 2019 levels last month, according to new data from Placer.ai, a startup that tracks and analyzes foot traffic from mobile devices.

• The national average rose slightly higher to 72.2% of July 2019 levels.
• Year-over-year foot traffic grew in all 11 cities highlighted in the startup's report, which represent a wide variety of America's biggest metros — "further evidence that the office recovery remains very much underway," writes author Lila Margalit.

Yes, but: There's still a wide disparity between cities.

• Miami and New York office visits are over or close to 90% of July 2019 levels, while San Francisco has barely breached 50%.

Between the lines: Boston's office real estate market is feeling the effects of the shift to remote and hybrid work.

• John Hancock recently put up a chunk of its Back Bay office space for sale, per the Boston Business Journal . That's even after the insurance company started making employees come into work three days a week instead of two.
• Office building prices, meanwhile, have fallen. Synergy bought a 21-story building at 101 Arch St. for $78 million earlier this year. That building had sold for $122 million in 2005.

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