March 27, 2026 — The 2026 edition of the Office-to-Apartment Conversion report by RentCafe.com, part of Yardi, shows that 90,300 units are planned for conversion nationwide. For perspective, that’s up 28% in just one year and nearly four times higher than in 2022 — a pipeline that only keeps growing.
New York leads by a wide margin, with 16,358 apartments under development — about twice as many as D.C. and more than three times as many as Chicago or Los Angeles.
But beyond the record numbers, this year’s data highlights something new: growth is spreading, but unevenly — and not without pressure.
Specifically:
- The trend is now more geographically widespread: Philadelphia (2,697 units) and Denver (2,991 units) have more than doubled their office-to-apartment conversion pipelines in just one year, while St. Louis (1,156 units) is seeing similar gains.
- Not all markets are moving in sync: While places like Philadelphia or Denver are surging in such redevelopments, 7 of the top 20 metros are seeing declines, with Minneapolis (−22%), Kansas City (−19%), and Jacksonville (−11%) facing the steepest drops.
- Conversions are now driven just as much by pressure as opportunity: With $213 billion in office loans coming due, many owners are being pushed to rethink their buildings.
“The problem is that many of these office buildings have lost significant value largely due to remote work trends reducing demand,” explains Doug Ressler, Manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix.
What also stands out is that:
- Office conversions make up 47% of all future adaptive reuse projects planned nationwide. In 12 of the top 20 metros, they account for the majority of projects — including D.C. and Chicago (64%), New York (62%), and even higher shares in Dallas and Minneapolis (82%).
- At the national level, about one-third of all conversions are under development in the Northeast (32%), and the South (29%), with the Midwest (22%) and West (17%) making up a smaller share.
- According to CommercialEdge’s Conversion Feasibility Index, roughly 1.9 billion square feet of office space nationwide is considered suitable for conversion. In practice, however, far fewer buildings meet the criteria.
The full Office-to-Apartment Conversion report includes additional insights (many shown through easy-to-read charts), along with real-world examples of office buildings transformed into apartments.
