Against the backdrop of macroeconomic headwinds, office market demand around the country grew in the first quarter of 2026, according to industry reports and commercial real estate specialists. The finance, technology and legal sectors led the growth, particularly in San Francisco and New York City. The VTS Office Demand Index, or VODI, reached a post-pandemic index level high of 79 at the end of the quarter, an 18% quarter-over-quarter increase and a 13% year-over-year increase. VODI compares demand against pre-pandemic averages. Technology firm demand rose 109% year over year and accounted for a significant share of national growth, VTS said. Finance and legal sectors experienced quarterly gains of 54% and 41%, respectively. Labor outlooks for all three sectors remain robust, outpacing other office-using sectors, the report says. The gains come as total office-using employment, a key driver of office demand, dropped 0.5% year over year — a loss of 183,000 jobs since the first quarter of last year. The job opening rate in the information sector fell 3.25% in Q1 from 3.83% a year prior, with openings declining in other sectors as well. One reason office demand is rising as the labor market contracts is the leverage that slower hiring gives companies to mandate in-office work, VTS says. “Firms [can] mandate more on-site work and thus offset demand reduction,” it said. JLL said in-office mandate expansions gave its workplace management business a boost this last quarter. “Workplace management contract renewal rates are stable, and our pipeline is strong,” JLL CFO Kelly Howe said on an earnings call last week. “Client activity within project management remains healthy, particularly in the U.S., positioning us for continued momentum over the near term.” Going forward, if oil and gas prices stay high, employers’ return-to-office leverage could weaken as employees point to high commuting costs.