Investors Say D.C. Office Values Have Hit Bottom. When They Go Up Again Is Anyone's Guess

Many office buildings in D.C. are now worth no more than the land they sit on. The values of older commercial buildings in D.C. have been falling over the last few years as the pandemic-induced remote work shift led many companies to downsize their footprints and to consolidate into newer buildings. As older buildings have become vacant, and as the prospects for redeveloping them have become more difficult, properties have traded for far below what local real estate executives had ever previously envisioned. The bright side for the city, investors said Thursday at Bisnow's D.C. State of the Market event, is that values can't fall any further.