Chicago Office Recovery Trails Most Major Markets Amid Continued RTO

Chicago's burgeoning office recovery is still behind the major-market pack, trailing in office visits and leasing, according to a pair of new reports on the national office market.

While the city's office visits did grow roughly 11% year-over-year in March, visits are still down roughly 40% since March 2019, according to the Placer.ai March 2026 office index. Chicago has seen the slowest recovery to its pre-pandemic baseline among the 11 markets Placer.ai tracks, well below the national average of down 26.5% compared to 2019. 

Miami and New York topped the office visit recovery curve, with both markets above 90% of their pre-pandemic baselines. Los Angeles posted the strongest year-over-year growth of any market at 16.6%, with San Francisco close behind at 15.4%. 

Part of the uptick in March was due to the calendar, with March 2026 having 22 working days, compared to 21 in 2019 and 2025. Nationally, this March was the busiest since the onset of Covid-19 for office visits.

Leasing trends from Avison Young tell a similar story.

Leasing volume over the past four quarters in Chicago is down 40% from pre-pandemic averages, below all seven of the other markets the brokerage tracks and below the U.S. average of 23% below pre-pandemic figures. Manhattan has fully recovered its leasing volume, and San Francisco is just 6% below its pre-pandemic benchmark.

Chicago leasing activity is slow, irrespective of the quality of space. Class-A leasing volume is 37% below pre-pandemic averages, and Class-B leasing is down 42% — both the lowest marks of the markets Avison Young tracks.

These trends haven't stymied major office trades this year, however. 601W Cos. and David Werner Real Estate Investments scooped up a 1.4M SF office building in the Loop in February, and Real Capital Solutions paid $132.5M for a Michigan Avenue office building in mid-January.