It’s a big jump: The number of apartments set to be converted from office spaces has soared from 23,100 in 2022 to a record-setting 70,700 in 2025, according to the latest research from RentCafe.
RentCafe in its Feb. 10 Market Insights report said that office conversions now make up nearly 42% of the nearly 169,000 apartments planned from future adaptive reuse projects.
This is good news for the office sector. It’s no secret that older, outdated office spaces are struggling to attract tenants. By removing these buildings and converting them to offices, owners can gain some relief from high vacancy rates.
Conversions can also help with the shortage of apartment units that many cities across the country face.
The problem? Not many office properties are good candidates for conversions to multifamily. Conversions are expensive, and many office buildings don’t come with floor plates that lend themselves to conversion. Others are in locations that don’t make sense for multifamily.
Still, RentCafe reported that office-to-apartment conversions are increasing in popularity, with 2025 set to reach a record-breaking milestone of almost 71,000 multifamily units in the pipeline.
While office properties make up the greatest share of future conversions, other property types are slated for conversion to new uses, too.
RentCafe reported that hotel properties make up 22% of future planned conversions, while factories make up 11% and warehouses 6%.
The number of upcoming office-to-apartment conversions totaled just 23,100 units in 2022 before doubling to 45,200 in 2023. This growth continued in 2024 when the pipeline of future office-to-apartment conversions reached 55,300, RentCafe said.
New York leads the country with an office-to-apartment pipeline of 8,310. In the Midwest, Chicago leads the way with a pipeline of 3,606 apartments set to be converted from offices. And in Texas, Dallas leads the way with 2,725 office-to-apartment conversions in the pipeline.
Minneapolis has a pipeline of 1,873 planned apartments, while Cincinnati’s stands at 1,753 and Kansas City, Missouri’s, at 1,676. In Cleveland, the pipeline is at 1,619, while it stands at 1,294 in Omaha.
