Philadelphia Office Market Report

Growing in-office presence stands to benefit core. In a survey of 14 major U.S. metros, Philadelphia saw the most substantial decline in remote-only workers from June 2022 to October of last year, with the metric falling 580 basis points to 33.1 percent. This is a welcome sign for overall office demand, and should help restrain rising vacancy in Philadelphia proper as workers filter back into area offices. Move-ins for this year reaffirm that tenants remain committed to the urban core despite some downsizing, with a notable amount of leases clustered in Center City and along Market Street. Exemplifying this trend, Big Four accounting firm KPMG is relocating to the BNY Mellon Center from its current lease merely one block away. Footprint consolidation will nevertheless drive up vacancy in the CBD, although the area’s selection of amenity-rich assets may benefit from this process. The Navy Yard also continues to cement itself as an emerging office hub, particularly among biotech-oriented firms. BioMérieux, a French company specializing in life science diagnostics, began occupying 32,000 square feet in this submarket in January.