It has been a while since we previewed one of our favorite resources from the lock down. A chance article, below, rekindled our attention. We have added more observations.
A San Francisco office building was worth $300 million before the pandemic. Now, it could sell for only $60 million — a perfect example of why downtowns are in trouble
One of our favorite finds over the last two years is the Kastle Index… now indexes
For those newbies, this security company has taken the information and made it into a very useful index since they have the data from their security systems…
With a request from the field for more granularity on the calculation, (hat tip MR) a new data set/Index has been created that shows interesting but not surprising work characteristics…
Kastle Back to Work Barometer
Holding steady just below 50% – with some outliers on either side ..
Kastle Over Time Occupancy Measurement
Another view of the leveling off of back to work characteristics near the right of the graph…
Kastle Weekly View
Here is the new view that brings some clarity to the overall back to work index….. Monday and Fridays are clearly work from home days still!
We have lessened our reviews of this type of information, but still find this worth a look, especially if there are new data series, such as this!
Had planned on a review of some really great information that we have done with regards to the Newsletter but that can wait till next week …the following was just too good to pass up.
On a personal note, literally in about 2 hours we will be having what is likely our final review of the lease here at our office. Thinking that office space was abundant … imagine our surprise when we are told that we are going to need to digest a 15 to 25% increase in rent. What we missed, was the fact that our office size is as our broker says is Del Fuego, a massive influx of people to our location here in Dallas, and also a large group of bigger offices downsizing to smaller offices due to continued remote and out of the office working environments.
On a good news front, while the increase is a bit startling, our office space is of an appropriate size that the actual numbers are not too terrible, however giving up a newly charging very pricey monthly reserved parking … at least no one can park in the reserved spot now…. haha…. glass half full!!
In all likelihood we’ll ink the deal sometime this week for another five year period.. OK digressing…
For the possible newbies, or those that have maybe forgotten, this neat company called Kastle is basically a security company among other things, that pivoted during the lock down and began producing some of the neatest material we have seen with regards to office occupancy.
The email that hit our inbox this week not only had a review of the highest occupancy rates we have seen, although they’re still very very low, but a really neat view and chart of other non-office information for comparison purposes.
Hope you enjoy the hard work that these guys do as much as we do bring it to you, thanks Kastle very well done!
Do you think everyone was starving for in person sports, travel and food?
Or are we permanently adjusting to only about a 40% to 50% office return environment?
This is as high as we’ve seen the office occupation index, but still as you can see very well below getting even close to the halfway.
Maybe we should have shown these graphs too our landlord! Doubt it would have mattered, but Oh well we like our space anyway !
BTW- About 90% of this post was dictated… getting better at keeping it short…sorry to those that have received dictated emails…. working harder to keep it short!
Had a much heavier post for today, but this hit the inbox early on in the week and my jaw dropped, so thought it worth sharing…
Kastle Back To Work Index – Fast Pivot
The Kastle Back To Work Index has been one of our favorite early finds, and is a fantastic idea of a mostly Security Monitoring service company using their resources for fantastic reporting…
So, looking back at last December (2020) there was a natural Holiday gravitation away from the office (Hat tip JH) …. but nothing like the fast pivot occurring most recently….
A smooth pivot to work from home and a slice down to half in two weeks…. amazing….
Likely the world we live in from now on…. more of a mandatory progress…. but very interesting how fast society adapts….
One of our first and favorite finds of interest over the last year and half, the Kastle Back To Work Index.
This index, created by Kastle an office security among other things company (what a clever way to use resources) references multiple city indexes as well as the average on all the cities they cover..
Great progress, with a bit of curving over as of late…. Not back to 50% yet on any of the areas they produce tracking data.
Total Average of just over 30% back at the office, again with some decreases of late. On a personal note, we have had multiple large industry related gatherings switch to virtual as of late!
Will be interesting to see how long it takes to get back to “Normal” and just what that looks like?
As mentioned on Wednesday’s Slow Moe Money Post, this was actually scheduled for the Hump Day, but was ousted due to our continued snail findings of overwhelmed financial institutions across every aspect of the financial world.
With that in mind, this is a bit of a heavier Friday, but all of these missed the Newsletter due, once again, to your great experiences and questions!
TSA Throughput Updates
While not knowing of this data prior to 2020, we have enjoyed monitoring it greatly….
Hat Tip JP and “The Brain” for noticing my bad data chart and repairing … now we are cooking!
While passenger count is gaining steam, especially notice Thanksgiving Holidays ….
We are still well behind 2019, “Normal” numbers!
Vaccine should help, end of year Holidays will be interesting… not to worry we are so enamored you will certainly see a review here!
Indeeds Job Posting Update – Global and Local
In another fascinating find, and once approved from the company for reproduction, we are just at the tip of the iceberg of this data, as there are well over 100 data bases …. as mentioned here, yep we have reviewed all and so far are just monitoring this Global…
Go Australia, all the way back to flat or just above — Nice!
And our second favorite, our own back yard of Cities here in Texas!
Go San Antonio- you guys rock and are almost back to whole as well.
KASTLE Back to Work Barometer
Frist mentioned here, this fantastic tracker is from none other than a security company…what a great way to utilize your inside knowledge for the help of many!
Watch out if you are buying, renting or expanding the commercial footprint – this is no where near Indeed’s job posting bounce all the way back!
Here is a link to a more interactive Kastle graph that you can hover over for exact information.
The things we find during such unusual times to measure have just fascinated us, earlier this week the TSA Throughput numbers (reviewing a graph scaling issue – hat tip JP)
Recently we ran across a really neat graphical presentation of folks returning to office buildings.
Meet the Kastle Return To Work Barometer
Kastle based in Virginia, is a comprehensive security and surveillance company with a really neat Graph aka Barometer …..
Good news…. locals, Dallas is leading the charge back to work in the office …
Looking closer…. its a low hurdle of under 40% … and that is well overstated in our area and Downtown!
Like the TSA Throughput numbers mentioned earlier, we will continue to monitor this moving forward … will be interesting to see aw we get back to full capacity!
Ahhhhh… today is a Friday and with a SUPER busy week (Happily of Course) we are looking to a restful weekend … Enjoy!
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, please consult your financial advisor prior to investing!
Background
The is the vocal portion of J.K. Financial, Inc. a Dallas Texas Based Fee Only Total Wealth Financial Planning Firm. Founded by John Kvale, a Dallas Texas Fee only Financial Planner and Total Wealth Manager.
2600 Office Buildings in 138 Cities…. Current Occupancy is Exactly 50% … Kastle Back to Work Barometer …. Likely the new norm?
Kastle a nationwide security provider….. obviously with their hands on some of the most interesting data:
Office Occupancy
With 2600 buildings in 138 cities…. the current occupancy rate is 50%!
Check out the 2020 Comps versus 2023 broken down by day of the week! WOW
Not sure what the future looks like, but likely not the same as a just a few years ago….
Have a Great “Back to Work Update” Day!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP
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Posted in Economy, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments
Tagged Back to Work Index, Kastle, Kastle Barometer, Kastle Systems