FTI Experts’ Hub: From 2020 Office Forecasts to 2026 Realities

In this FTI Experts’ Hub podcast, we look back at one of the most pivotal moments in recent commercial real estate history—the early months of the pandemic—through the lens of two specialists from FTI Consulting’s Real Estate Solutions and Real Estate Advisory practices: Jahn Brodwin and Benjamin Steele. Back in April 2020, as uncertainty gripped the industry, 40-year veteran Brodwin wrote a thought piece titled "The Office Market After COVID-19: Will It Be a Zero-Sum Game?" In it, he explored the opposing forces he believed would shape office demand in the years ahead, and he shared those same ideas in an early episode of FTI Experts’ Hub.Nearly six years later, his predictions offer a compelling starting point for understanding just how differently the office sector has evolved. In this podcast with CPE Senior Editor Laura Valean, Brodwin examines the assumptions behind his 2020 outlook and reflects on which dynamics unfolded as he anticipated and which surprised him. Joining him is Benjamin Steele, part of the next generation of CRE advisors at FTI Consulting. Steele adds a fresh, data-driven perspective on the sector’s trajectory and challenges some of the 2020 assumptions with today’s realities.