The Office Recovery Is Real. Here’s Why Most Landlords Aren’t Ready for It

Boston Properties just posted its best quarterly leasing performance since 2019, completing 2.2 million square feet in the first half of 2025. Piedmont and Highwoods beat earnings expectations with strong positive absorption. The Atlanta office market surged 41% quarter over quarter. The office recovery is here. But if you think this means business as usual, you're about to get disrupted.

The Data Confirms What Markets Are Pricing

JPMorgan upgraded Boston Properties to Overweight, citing "strong leasing activity over the past several quarters" that should drive earnings growth over the next two years. The firm noted BXP's 1.1 million square feet of Q2 leasing brought the year-to-date total to 2.2 million, marking an 18% increase over the prior four quarters.

This isn't isolated to one landlord. Boston's downtown vacancy rate declined to 21.2% in mid-2025 after four consecutive quarters of improvement, according to JLL. Pre-leasing activity for developments under construction reached 54.1%, signaling long-term tenant confidence in well-located, new-build projects.

The pattern extends nationally. Fortune 100 companies increased their office presence from 5% to 54% over the past two years, demonstrating corporate commitment to physical workspace. High-profile transactions like KKR's 132,500 square foot lease at International Place in Boston's Financial District underscore renewed confidence in trophy locations.

The job market connection is undeniable. When rates were zero and talent was scarce, workers had leverage to demand remote flexibility. As the labor market tightens and AI creates perceived competition for roles, compliance with return-to-office mandates increases. It's not coincidence that leasing momentum coincides with shifting employment dynamics.

Why This Recovery Is Different

Here's the part most landlords are missing: this recovery isn't evenly distributed. It's highly selective. The office market is bifurcating into experience-led properties that capture outsized demand and commodity space that continues to struggle. The Experience Gap isn't closing. It's widening.

BXP's "Premier Workplace" segment outperformed the broader market specifically because it delivers measurable experience advantages. When Fortune 100 companies increased their footprint 54%, they didn't choose randomly. They chose buildings with superior infrastructure, connected systems, and quantifiable tenant experience.

Atlanta's 41% quarterly leasing growth represents tech-level expansion rates. These aren't normal recovery numbers. They're flight-to-quality numbers. Tenants are making binary decisions: commit to trophy assets that deliver measurable outcomes or maintain flexibility in mediocre space while waiting for better options.

The landlords capturing this demand share three characteristics: unified data platforms providing real-time portfolio visibility, connected workflows where property operations and tenant engagement integrate seamlessly, and measurable experience metrics that prove ROI to occupiers and investors.

The Infrastructure Most Portfolios Lack

Boston Properties completed $4.2 billion in financing activities and maintained strong access to capital markets. That's table stakes for surviving the recovery, not capitalizing on it. The real differentiation comes from operational infrastructure that most portfolios simply don't have.

When BXP reports that developments like 1050 Winter Street are 100% pre-leased before completion, that's not luck. It's the result of systems that connect demand signals to development decisions in real-time. It's unified intelligence turning buildings into responsive, adaptive environments that tenants choose over alternatives.

This is what the REX Framework predicts. When markets reset, experience becomes quantifiable. Properties that measure and deliver on experience outcomes capture disproportionate value. The recovery validates this thesis: winners aren't just benefiting from macro tailwinds. They're equipped with infrastructure that separates them from competition.

HqO's "do it once and do it right" philosophy matters more during recoveries than downturns. The time to build experience infrastructure is now, while the market is improving, not after competitors have already captured premium tenants with superior offerings.

Welcome to the Platform Era

The next five years won't be about whether office recovers. It's already recovering. The question is which landlords have the infrastructure to capitalize on sustained demand. In 2025, experience is no longer a differentiator. It's table stakes.

The properties winning new leases aren't just offering space. They're delivering measurable outcomes backed by unified data and connected operations. They're quantifying tenant satisfaction, tracking utilization in real-time, and adjusting services dynamically based on actual usage patterns rather than projected models.

This recovery is exposing the gap between landlords who invested in operational intelligence and those who waited for markets to improve. The winners positioned themselves during the downturn. The laggards are discovering that recovering demand doesn't automatically translate to recovering performance when tenants have clear alternatives.

The Platform Era rewards landlords who treat portfolios as connected ecosystems rather than isolated assets. Experience infrastructure isn't optional anymore. It's how you compete when tenants have choices and capital has options.

The office recovery is real. The question is whether you're ready for what it reveals about your competitive position.

See how the REX Platform turns recovery into sustained advantage. Request a demo to understand why experience infrastructure matters more than ever.