New findings from Newmark’s U.S. Office Occupier Benchmark Survey suggest that most U.S. office users are positioning for growth over the next two years, even as they acknowledge significant uncertainty around how artificial intelligence will reshape staffing and space needs. The results are preliminary, as the survey remains open, but early responses combined with Newmark’s market data and third-party sources point to several themes that are likely to guide occupier decisions heading toward 2027.
On the labor and space side, 60% of surveyed occupiers expect headcount at their locations to increase over the next two years, largely due to organic business growth, while only 5% anticipate a smaller workforce. Newmark’s tenants-in-the-market data align with this, with 78% of active requirements planning to expand or maintain their current footprint and just 15% expecting to contract. Office-using job openings have recently increased, though overall hiring and separations have remained relatively subdued since 2024, as gains in professional and business services have offset recent employment losses in information and financial activities.
Space strategies remain fluid. Newmark reports that recent leases among tracked occupiers are a mix of expansions, contractions and same-size renewals, with outcomes varying by sector and office type. Tech tenants are leaning toward expansion, with their share of large-block leasing at the highest level since 2022. In contrast, finance, insurance and real estate firms are trimming space, often trading some square footage for higher-quality buildings and more efficient layouts. Headquarters locations are more likely to grow than regional offices, which are more often shrinking, suggesting a consolidation pattern around core locations. Newmark also notes that approximately 42% of pre-pandemic leases have yet to roll, leaving many occupiers still waiting for a natural opportunity to recalibrate their footprints for hybrid work.
Hybrid arrangements have become the dominant norm. More than 80% of respondents report having a hybrid workplace model in place, and roughly three-quarters actively enforce attendance, either across the company or for specific roles and teams. Among hybrid organizations, 67% say their workplace policy helps with talent attraction and retention, compared with 30% of companies that are fully office-based, indicating that structured flexibility is perceived as a competitive advantage.
Attendance patterns appear to be stabilizing. Nearly 75% of occupiers report that in-office attendance has reached a steady state, while about 15% want to see higher levels. Employees now average 3.2 days per week in the office, with more structured hybrid schedules delivering higher physical presence than policies that leave attendance largely up to individual employees. Drawing on Kastle data, Newmark points out that weekly average office occupancy hit a post-pandemic peak of 59.2% in December 2025 and has changed little since, a trend echoed by Placer.ai data.
Artificial intelligence is emerging slowly in real estate decision-making. Around 80% of survey participants say they are unsure how AI will affect headcount or space needs and are therefore not basing long-term space commitments on AI assumptions. Within corporate real estate teams, about 40% are still evaluating or experimenting with AI, and fewer than 15% have moved into scaling. Early adopters are focusing use cases on lease abstraction and management, as well as occupancy and utilization analytics that draw on existing lease and badge data.
