In hindsight, mass-remote working was an aberration and the death of the office segment was woefully oversold, says Zurich Insurance Group in a new study.

The insurer says much more appetite for offices is expected in 2025 as employers wrestle back control of hybrid working patterns and bring more employees back into the office for large parts of the week. Remote working was “born out of necessity, indeed survival,” says Zurich in Outlook for Real Estate Investments: “Divergent Paths at an Inflection Point”.

“We collectively did [remote working] because we had to,” says the study. “But it’s no longer required and it’s increasingly being scrutinised. It’s no wonder why more people are contemplating returning to the office.”

The report’s authors — Andrew Angeli, global head of real estate research and strategy and Mirko Giannetto, associate director, real estate strategist at Zurich — say that Zurich anticipates more companies