I’ve spent 20 years as a product leader in the tech space, with deep expertise in building and scaling AI products at Google, Two Sigma, and Point72, where I’ve refined skills that are the intersection of product and data excellence. Stepping into the role of VTS’ new Chief Product Officer, I’m energized by the opportunity in the commercial real estate industry to help professionals not just use AI, but harness its power at the highest potential, and truly trust it.

Trust starts with education. “Big data” can sound abstract, even intimidating, but at its core, it’s about transforming millions of fragmented data points: market comps, lease terms, capital flows and more into clear, actionable insights. Today’s data engines don’t just aggregate information; they detect patterns and trends, surface risks and opportunities, and make sense of information that’s disparate and would otherwise remain unutilized. When professionals understand how these systems work, how models are trained, how outputs are validated, and where human oversight fits in, confidence grows. 

For years, CRE has evaluated AI as though better models would unlock better operations. In reality, the constraint was never cognition, it is coordination. Every asset is governed by a web of inputs that exist in fragmented systems with no centralization, and while AI operating in that environment may produce answers, it cannot deliver meaningful outcomes. The truth is, the industry hasn’t lacked intelligence; it has lacked a unified memory, and the moment those sources align into a continuous operational picture is the moment AI stops assisting work and starts shaping it.

Every building produces information continuously: leasing activity, legal agreements, operating obligations, tenant relationships, financial performance. But those inputs live in different systems, are managed across different teams, move at different speeds, and rarely reconcile into a single operational reality. AI cannot be asked to reason on top of that fragmentation.

The industry’s starting point was to improve interpretation. Better extraction. Better summaries. Better conversational answers. But the key to operating buildings most-effectively is making sense of all the data available and understanding what is fundamentally true and what needs to happen next.

Leases Are Not Documents, They Are Behavioral Rules

A lease is often treated as a source of data. In practice, it is the DNA governing how an asset evolves over time.

Rent escalations change revenue.
Notice periods trigger workflows.
Exclusivity clauses affect leasing decisions.
Operating obligations affect compliance.

These are not static facts to retrieve. They are the inputs of an ever-expanding context window influencing operations.

Most systems, however, treat the lease as an artifact that periodically produces structured outputs, an abstract, a report, a set of fields. The moment activity occurs, the system drifts away from the contract it is supposed to represent. Teams then reconcile differences manually: document vs spreadsheet vs system vs reality.

AI layered on top of this environment becomes advisory by definition. It can describe the lease, but it cannot reliably determine what applies right now across the portfolio.

The breakthrough capability is not understanding, it is maintaining clarity over continually-evolving context.

Intelligence Requires a Unified Understanding

In operational industries, software eventually converges on the same requirement: it must maintain a living representation of the world, not periodically describe it.

For commercial real estate, that means connecting the full lifecycle: proposals, executed leases, amendments, renewals, obligations, performance, into a single operational state that persists over time.

When systems remain disconnected, every team reconstructs reality independently. Leasing interprets the agreement one way, asset management another, accounting a third. AI then reasons over whichever version it encounters, producing answers that appear correct but are operationally unsafe.

When the state is shared, the role of AI changes completely. The question stops being “what does the lease say?” and becomes “what should occur now?” Not because the model improved, but because the environment contained connected data that delivered actionable insights.

The Shift From Information to Infrastructure

The industry often frames AI adoption as a model choice. In practice, it is an infrastructural choice.

If lease data functions like documentation, AI produces explanations.
If lease data functions like infrastructure, AI produces dependable guidance.

The difference is data competency, the ability of the platform to keep multiple sources synchronized into a usable operational context and deliver that context consistently to both people and software.

This is why the next generation of CRE platforms will be differentiated less by features and more by whether their data can act as a trusted operational reference point. 

The goal is not software that occasionally interprets buildings, it is software that continuously understands them. Once that foundation exists, intelligence is measured less by how well the system answers questions, and more by how rarely teams need to ask them.

The post Ushering in the Era of Intelligent Assets appeared first on VTS.

This analog approach is no longer sustainable.

In a market where every basis point of net operating income (NOI) counts, relying on “dead” data is a liability. The future of asset management isn’t just about reading a lease; it’s about transforming that static language into mission-critical intelligence.

It is time to move beyond simple lease abstraction and embrace Asset Intelligence. In a market where teams are being tasked with doing more than ever before, operational efficiency is more critical than ever, meaning clean, integrated AI-driven data is the only competitive advantage that matters.

The Problem with Point Solutions

Traditionally, lease abstraction has been a fragmented process. You have an asset management team, a leasing team, legal team, and an accounting team, often creating multiple versions of abstraction for the same document. This redundancy breeds inefficiency.

Worse, most abstraction services act as point solutions. They deliver a static abstract – a snapshot in time, and then walk away. The moment that abstract is handed over, the value begins to decay. If a tenant exercises an option or a clause is triggered, your static abstract doesn’t know. It doesn’t update. It sits outside the systems where your team actually works, forcing you to bridge the gap with manual data entry and risky reconciliation.

Static outputs cannot support dynamic asset operations. The risk isn’t just missing a clause; it’s making strategic decisions based on outdated information

Clean Data: The Foundation of Real Intelligence

Data cleanliness in lease abstraction means more than just accurate entry, it means having insights that provide actual context. It’s taking a single lease and understanding how it maps to global portfolio exposure, historical relationships with a tenant, and how your financials compare to the rest of your portfolio as well as competitors in the market.

When you utilize a system powered by a massive entity mapping model — one that understands tenant relationships across 100 million external sources and 13 billion square feet of leases — you aren’t just reading a document. You are validating it against the market.

Clean data allows you to:

• Identify Exposure: Instantly see total exposure to a specific parent company across all assets.
• Standardize Terms: Consistency matters. Ensure that terms mean the same thing across every abstract in your database.
• Eliminate Risk: Maintain a comprehensive understanding of your leases, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks, compliance is upheld, and the utmost visibility is retained.

The Power of the Integrated Workflow

The most overlooked aspect of lease abstraction is where it lives.If your lease data lives in a platform separate from your leasing, marketing, and asset management tools – with a different team, you have created a deep data silo. This fragmentation forces your team to stitch together disparate tools, introducing cost, delay, and human error at every handoff.

True convenience, and true clarity, comes from having lease abstraction built directly into your existing tech stack. Imagine a workflow where the transition from “lead to lease” isn’t the end of the data journey, but just the beginning. When abstraction is platform-native, intelligence compounds instead of resetting.

• Continuity: The data captured during the proposal and LOI stages flows directly into the lease administration phase.
• Immediacy: You don’t wait weeks for an abstract. You get instant AI abstraction for a quick baseline, followed by expert verification.
• Accessibility: You can “chat” with your leases. Instead of hunting through 100 pages for a sublease clause, you ask your platform, and it surfaces the exact paragraph you need.

Stop Managing Documents. Start Managing Assets.

Your leases contain the answers to your most pressing questions regarding revenue, risk, and occupancy. But if that data is trapped in a static document or a disconnected spreadsheet, you are operating with an unnecessary disadvantage in today’s AI-driven environment.

It’s time to demand more from your lease abstraction. Don’t settle for a vendor who hands you a file and sends an invoice. Stop letting your data decay. Start turning your leases into living, conversational intelligence that powers your entire portfolio. Asset Intelligence with VTS generates convenience and insights into the platform you use every day.

Discover how Asset Intelligence transforms your workflow.

The post AI-First Asset Management: Turning Leases into Living Intelligence appeared first on VTS.

For the third-annual VTS Leasing Prediction Outlook, we have analyzed our AI-powered office demand data, the industry’s earliest leading indicator of office leasing, to forecast 2026 leasing trends across three of the world’s most influential markets: New York, San Francisco, and London. These three markets exude an outsized amount of global influence in CRE due to their level of capital as well as talent, and have come up repeatedly in institutional circles as key bellwethers for the broader office recovery.

Office leasing activity exceeded our forecasts in 2025 across all three markets we track. San Francisco, New York, and London each outperformed our projections, though by varying degrees. This report presents our 2026 outlook for each market, reviews our 2025 forecast accuracy, and explains where and why we were conservative last year.

With VTS Data powered by VTS AI, we bring predictive market intelligence directly to our customers. This enables landlords, brokers, and investors to understand leasing trends at least 6-12 months before they are recorded in traditional market statistics. As a result, we can make credible forecasts around the trajectory of leasing and net absorption, and hold ourselves accountable to those predictions.

2026 Global Leasing Forecast

2026 Market Deep Dives

San Francisco

VTS forecasts San Francisco’s 2026 leasing activity to be approximately 12.8M square feet, representing year-over-year growth of 15%. We have applied a discount to our model outputs to reflect concentration risk in AI-sector demand.

However, we recognize the risks to this view. Commentary around an AI investment bubble has intensified, and the sector’s leasing activity is highly concentrated among a small number of well-funded companies. A pullback in AI funding, a shift toward capital efficiency, or delays in enterprise AI adoption could materially reduce demand. San Francisco’s trajectory remains more dependent on a single sector than New York or London, which makes it more vulnerable to a correction.

That said, the current pipeline of active requirements remains robust, and the companies driving demand have substantial capital reserves. Data from our base case reflects a normalization from 2025’s exceptional growth. Our downside scenario accounts for potential AI sentiment shifts, while our upside case assumes continued momentum from the broader AI ecosystem.

Recent activity supports this view. In January 2026, Anthropic signed a 420,000 SF lease at 300 Howard Street, one of the largest single-tenant deals in Downtown San Francisco since the pandemic, bringing its total footprint to over 750,000 SF across three buildings.

New York City

After two consecutive years of exceptional growth, New York enters 2026 with an elevated baseline. We forecast 39.8M square feet of leasing, representing approximately 6% year-over-year growth.

Our downside scenario assumes a mean-reversion dynamic where some of 2025’s activity represented pull-forward demand. We view this as less likely given the strength of current pipeline activity. Data from our base case expects continued strength driven by financial services modernization, flight-to-quality dynamics, and sustained return-to-office momentum. Our upside scenario is only marginally higher, suggesting greater confidence in the upper end of the range.

London

London is poised for modest recovery in 2026, with our forecast of 10.2M square feet, representing approximately 8% year-over-year growth. After consecutive years of decline, early demand indicators suggest stabilization. Our scenario range is relatively tight, reflecting high model agreement and lower forecast uncertainty compared to other markets. Class A demand remains strong, with prime West End and City rents at record levels, though overall take-up will depend on broader economic conditions and the pace of large transactions converting from pipeline to executed leases.

Reviewing Our 2025 Predictions

Precision matters in forecasting. In the interest of transparency regarding our predictions and their outcomes, we were too conservative across the board in 2025, but we got the directions and relative rankings right. We were bullish on New York, highly bullish on San Francisco, and appropriately cautious on London. In each case, more demand materialized and converted to executed leases than we could have reasonably predicted at the start of the year, each for different reasons and under varying circumstances. Although our beginning of the year prediction was slightly conservative for the three markets captured, our mid-year forecast was much closer to end-of-year totals. The ability for VTS AI to predict demand on average 6-12 months in advance of leasing activity ensures that accuracy improves as the year progresses.

Understanding the Variances

San Francisco Exceeded Even Our Bullish Expectations

We named San Francisco our “Growth Pick” for 2025 and forecasted 29% year-over-year growth, a bold call at the time. The market delivered 59% growth, more than doubling our expected expansion rate. Our 9M square foot forecast proved conservative as San Francisco delivered 11.1M square feet. While we correctly identified San Francisco as the standout performer and predicted substantial recovery, the unprecedented boom of the AI sector outpaced even our bullish projections. OpenAI now occupies nearly 1 million square feet across Mission Bay. Anthropic added 100,000 square feet at 505 Howard Street. Sierra, founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, signed a 300,000 square foot lease at 185 Berry Street. This hyper-concentration of AI investment created demand velocity that exceeded historical patterns.

New York City Had a Great Year, As Predicted

We said New York would have a great year in 2025, and it delivered. The market posted 37.5M square feet against our forecast of 34M, a variance of approximately 9%. The modest underestimate reflects stronger-than-anticipated leasing from major financial institutions. JPMorgan expanded to nearly 500,000 square feet at 390 Madison Avenue even after opening its new headquarters. Citadel committed to 850,000 square feet at 350 Park Avenue. Jane Street expanded to nearly one million square feet at 250 Vesey Street. Millennium Management signed for 438,000 square feet at 399 Park Avenue. These large commitments, combined with record activity at rents above $100 per square foot, drove the market beyond our projections.

London Had Correct Direction, Yet Conservative Magnitude

London delivered 9.4M square feet against our forecast of 8.5M SF, a variance of 11%. Importantly, we were correct in predicting that London would be the only market to experience a year-over-year decline, with leasing activity down 1.3% from 2024. Our conservative stance on the absolute number reflected concerns about the demand pipeline at the time of forecasting, though the market proved more resilient than we anticipated.

A Note on Model Timing

Our mid-year outlook, reforecasted with updated demand signals, was considerably closer to final outcomes in each market. The real-time nature of VTS Data means predictive accuracy improves as the year progresses and more demand converts to pipeline activity. 

Looking Ahead

As we enter 2026, each market presents a distinct profile. San Francisco’s AI-driven recovery carries meaningful upside but also concentration risk. New York offers stability at high volumes. London is stabilizing after consecutive years of decline. We remain committed to providing the leading data-driven insights that help investors, owners, and brokers navigate these dynamics.

The forecasts presented in this outlook represent our base case expectations. We also maintain low and high scenario forecasts for each market that account for downside risks and upside potential. To access our full forecast range, including detailed low, base, and high case scenarios, please contact the VTS Research team.

For deeper analysis of these markets or forecasts for additional cities, schedule a demonstration of VTS AI’s in-app predictive market intelligence.

The post 2026 VTS Leasing Prediction Outlook appeared first on VTS.

A VTS Data analysis of August 2025 commercial office space requirements reveals that San Francisco and New York are experiencing a significant increase in demand, outpacing the national average. This is largely due to increased demand from growth in the AI sector and, more specifically, those two markets dominating tech headcount growth among AI companies.

Overview

The incredible boom in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space over the last twelve months has injected yet another dynamic component into the national office market—particularly in New York and San Francisco.

Both cities are experiencing an AI-fueled tech expansion which has pushed them to outperform national office demand levels as tracked by the VTS Office Demand Index (VODI) over the past year and since November 2022, when ChatGPT was released to the public.

Talent Concentration: According to a report by Wing VC, which tracks top tech startups at various funding stages, these two markets alone account for 58% of the primary hiring locations as AI firms search for talent.

Tech Growth: San Francisco vs. New York

New York: Resilient Diversification

New York’s tech ecosystem, as part of its large diversified industry base, has demonstrated resilient growth:

• VODI Growth: The city’s VODI saw a robust 39% year-over-year increase in August 2025, outpacing the national growth of 30%.
• Sector Share: Tech sector demand reached a post-Covid peak in August 2025 of 18%. This is a key indicator of the tech industry’s growing influence in a market where FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) and Professional Services traditionally dominate.

San Francisco: The Tech Epicenter

San Francisco’s office market, heavily influenced by its dense concentration of tech giants and AI startups, presents an even stronger picture:

Record-Breaking Demand: Similar to “The Big Apple,” San Francisco’s share of office demand from the Tech sector reached a post-Covid record in August 2025 of 59%—surpassing even the levels seen during the immediate tech boom at the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

VODI Surges: The city’s VODI was up 107% year-over-year in August 2025 and has skyrocketed 356% since ChatGPT’s release in late-2022.

Conclusion

The surge in AI is reshaping the office landscape, with New York and San Francisco firmly positioned as the epicenters of this transformation. While New York showcases resilient growth within its diverse industry base, San Francisco presents an even more dramatic, tech-concentrated boom.

As both markets dominate hiring for top tech startups and reach post-COVID records in office demand, their leadership is undeniable. This performance significantly outpaces the national average, solidifying New York and San Francisco as the premier hubs where the AI revolution is driving an immense appetite for commercial real estate.

Explore More Insights:

To unlock additional VTS Data insights for your business, contact our Head of Research: [email protected]

For additional public VTS Data insights, visit our July 2025 VODI Report

The post Tech Talent Hubs San Francisco and New York Experience Spiking Office Demand Amid AI Boom appeared first on VTS.

There is only one Blockbuster store left, in Bend, Oregon. It stands as a lonely relic of a company that waited for the future to slow down.

Real estate cannot afford that posture. We are at the inflection point where people-heavy processes become AI-enhanced operating models. The gap between early movers and laggards will open quickly; going slow is no longer a strategy.

Why Real Estate is Primed for AI Transformation?

Real estate is one of the largest asset classes in the world—and one of the most inefficient. The industry traditionally relies on manual workflows, fragmented data across geographies, and massive volumes of unstructured information.

AI thrives in this environment. It turns inefficiencies into competitive advantages by:

• Automating the mundane to free up human capital.
• Extracting insights from complex data sets.
• Enhancing decision-making with real-time context and speed.

According to Morgan Stanley, real estate generates more data per dollar of revenue than almost any other sector, yet utilizes very little of it operationally. AI flips this equation. By integrating AI-driven labor automation, U.S. REITs and CRE services could see a multi-tens-of-billions opportunity, potentially boosting operating cash flow by mid-teens percentages.

The Three Waves of AI Transformation

1. Near Term (0-12 months): AI Assistance Put AI in the work, not on the slide. Focus on repetitive tasks like drafts, lookups, and triage. This is the “copilot” era, where humans approve and ship work faster than ever before.
2. Medium Term (12-36 months): AI Orchestration Tools evolve into interconnected agents. One agent watches service levels while another tunes pricing or reconciles data. Humans shift into roles focused on review, exceptions, and high-level relationships.
3. Longer Term (~5 years): AI-Native Operating Models Work is reassigned rather than deleted. We will see fewer coordinators and more “system operators.” Micro-agents handle the routine, while people focus exclusively on judgment-based work.

Where AI Will Transform Real Estate Operations?

Investments: The Starting Point

Buying and selling the right assets at the right time drives returns. AI will revolutionize due diligence, underwriting, and market analysis by processing vast data sets to identify risks and opportunities faster than any human analyst.

The “Big 3” Cost Centers: The Real Opportunity

The greatest operational impact lies in asset management, property management, and leasing. These high-volume areas are the perfect fit for commercial real estate lease management software enhanced by AI.

• Asset Management: AI will automate budget and business plan tasks, continuously monitoring portfolio performance to optimize capital allocation.
• Property Management: PMs will shift from administrative tasks to tenant satisfaction. AI handles work order routing and compliance, allowing managers to solve complex tenant needs.
• Leasing: AI eliminates manual data entry and improves lead routing. By using advanced commercial real estate lease management software, brokers can access high-quality market data instantly, allowing them to focus on negotiations rather than paperwork.

The VTS Advantage: Built for the AI Era

This transformation requires more than generic tools; it demands platforms built for CRE’s unique challenges. VTS has spent a decade organizing and standardizing data across millions of square feet to create this foundation.

While a general AI might catch a red flag in a single document, VTS AI spots patterns across entire portfolios. It understands how specific tenant types respond to lease structures and how submarket conditions predict future demand—a “knowledge compounding effect” that creates value over time.

The best AI is embedded invisibly into your workflow. VTS AI enhances your existing processes by:

• Flagging unusual terms during lease proposal reviews.
• Suggesting optimal timing for capital improvements based on lease schedules.
• Providing market-informed recommendations for rental rates based on real-time demand signals.

Our AI strategy isn’t a “bolt-on” feature; it is the core of our mission to be the default operating system for the built world.

The Choice Ahead

Firms that treat AI as a core operating capability will pull away on cost, speed, and tenant experience. The rest will find themselves with great locations, but business models the world has moved past.

The question isn’t whether AI will transform commercial real estate—it’s whether you will lead that transformation or play catch-up. The future won’t slow down. For those ready to move, the AI revolution is the opportunity of a generation.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are from Morgan Stanley Research – How GenAI May Reshape the Real Estate Industry (July 1, 2025) and its companion podcast note.

The post The Real Estate AI Revolution appeared first on VTS.

Market Contraction Overview

The April 2025 data indicates a widespread decline in tenant demand, with 17 of 19 markets experiencing decreases in requirement velocity by count compared to March 2025. This exceeds the prevalence of declines observed in three of four comparable March-April transitions since 2021. Similarly, 16 of 19 markets showed declines in requirement velocity by square footage, also surpassing historical norms for this time period.

In absolute terms, total requirement count decreased 23.2% month-over-month, while total square footage fell 26.4%. These declines represent meaningful contractions in forward-looking leasing activity that warrant investor attention, particularly given their correlation with the timing of recent policy changes.

Historical Context: 2023 Banking Crisis Parallel and Recovery Pattern

The current downturn bears striking similarity to the March-April 2023 contraction, which coincided with the banking crisis of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and later First Republic Bank failing in rapid succession. That crisis produced a comparable market response, with requirements declining 25.1% and square footage dropping 38.2% from March to April 2023. Every office market tracked experienced count declines during that period, with 17 of 19 markets showing square footage reductions.

What can the aftermath of the 2023 crisis tell us about potential recovery patterns? Following the April 2023 low point, the market immediately bounced back. Requirements rebounded 23% from April to May 2023, while square footage surged 54.3% in the same period, suggesting an initial market correction after the shock. However, market demand once again stumbled short term, with requirements declining 9.7% and square footage falling 11.0% from May to June 2023.

Specific markets showed varied recovery trajectories in the months following April 2023. New York saw requirements increase 25.4% and square footage surge 175.3% from April to May. Boston experienced a 45.9% rise in requirements from April to May, followed by continued square footage expansion through June. San Francisco demonstrated resilience with a 39.3% requirements increase and 67.6% square footage growth from April to May.

March-April Transition Analysis (2021-2025)

Looking at the five-year trend of March-April transitions provides important context for understanding the current market shift. The pattern shows considerable variation: 2021 saw marginal growth (+0.7% requirements, +4.7% square footage), followed by moderate declines in 2022 (-18.2% requirements, -8.9% square footage). The banking crisis in 2023 produced the sharpest contraction (-25.1% requirements, -38.2% square footage), while 2024 brought modest growth in requirements (+3.4%) with minimally reduced square footage (-0.7%)

The 2025 data (-23.2% requirements, -26.4% square footage) represents the second most severe March-April decline in the five-year period, exceeded only by the 2023 banking crisis. This positioning suggests the current market response to tariff policy implementation is comparable in magnitude to the significant financial system shock we witnessed in Spring 2023.

Market Performance Analysis

Analyzing the current situation at a market-level reveals meaningful variations in performance. The hardest-hit markets by tenant count include Boston (-44.1%), Northern Virginia (-43.6%), and Silicon Valley (-40.9%). By contrast, Suburban Maryland (+28.0%) and Austin (+34.0%) demonstrated resilience.

Several markets showed mixed signals. Chicago experienced a 23.6% decline in requirement count but a 23.8% increase in square footage. Similarly, San Francisco saw a 16.7% reduction in count coupled with a 9.1% increase in square footage, suggesting fewer but larger transactions.

Visit: The Real Estate AI Revolution

Forward Outlook

If the current tariff-induced contraction follows a pattern similar to the 2023 banking crisis, we may see a significant recovery to follow. Historical precedent suggests we could experience a strong initial rebound, particularly in May, followed by marginally lower levels of activity short term.

For investors and industry stakeholders, this analysis suggests maintaining a measured approach. The correlation between policy timing and market response warrants attention, but our singular historical comparison suggests a strong and immediate rebound is possible following a systemic shock. Of course, the current administration’s tariff policy is proving to be incredibly fluid, with changes and pauses to implementation occurring rapidly, and it remains to be seen what result the final state will be, which ultimately will determine where office demand moves directionally and how much of an impact we will witness in the market. 

For additional public VTS Data insights, visit our April 2025 VODI Report

To unlock additional VTS Data insights for your business, contact our Head of Research: [email protected]

Data source: VTS requirement velocity data across 19 major markets through April 2025

The post Latest VTS Data Shows the Impact of Tariffs Extends Beyond Global Trade appeared first on VTS.

The VTS team consists of folks with a diverse set of personalities, talents, and perspectives, and we want you to meet them! That’s why we’ve created this #WeAreVTS blog series to highlight some of the many outstanding people we have at VTS, get a closer look at the dynamic lives they have, and continue to create an environment where each VTSer can be their authentic self.

Without further ado, here’s our interview with Max Saia — VP, Data & GTM Strategy!

In a sentence or two, can you explain what you do here at VTS?

Hi Louisa! I am responsible for all strategy, packaging, pricing, and delivery of anything related to VTS Data, which is our aggregated and anonymized data platform.

Where are you based right now?

I’m based in San Diego, California.

Can you describe your professional journey and how it led you to VTS?

Coming out of school, I started as an economic consultant. I discovered commercial real estate (CRE) by raising my hand to handle the CRE updates for customers at a small consulting firm. I eventually took a research role at CBRE covering the office market.

That role led me through a winding journey—from brokerage research to the economic forecasting team at CBRE Econometric Advisors, and eventually to the “buy side” with the Irvine Company.

Throughout these roles, I became a heavy data user. I saw the gaps in the industry, specifically the lack of real-time information flow. Bridging the gap between top-down data and bottom-up anecdotes is challenging. When I saw how VTS was addressing this—essentially building the intelligence layer that powers modern commercial real estate lease management software, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It was a natural opportunity to help bring a much-needed solution to the market.

What excites you about your work and what makes you proud to be a VTSer?

The environment and the people are fantastic. Everyone is an A-player willing to “flex” beyond their job description to support the team.

One of my proudest moments was the launch of VTS 4. Seeing a Data product we built from scratch finally come to life, and watching customers leverage it in new ways, was incredibly rewarding.

Personal Tidbits: Dream Jobs and Hobbies

• Growing Up: When I was little, I wanted to be an orchestra conductor (thanks to Fantasia!). Later, I wanted to be a fighter pilot like in Top Gun, but my eyesight had other plans.
• Free Time: I’ve played bass since 7th grade and love going to live shows.
• Nature: Living in San Diego, I take full advantage of the weather by hiking and running.

Solving Global Problems

If I had a magic wand, I would shift the world away from a zero-sum mindset. I believe a growth mindset—understanding that a rising tide lifts all boats—would make the world happier, more productive, and wealthier overall.

Advice for Aspiring Leaders

Prioritize Transparency: Things will break and mistakes will happen. If you communicate clearly and show how you’re making things better, you will go far in your career.

Step outside your comfort zone: The times you are most nervous to volunteer for a project are exactly when you should step forward. That is where the most learning happens.

Keep the customer in mind: My experience as a server taught me that every job is a customer service task. If you make people feel heard and comfortable, they will be happy.

The post WeAreVTS: Max Saia, VP of Data & GTM Strategy, on Embracing the Unknown and Delivering Impact appeared first on VTS.

As we look toward 2025, the central question for the industry is: What can we expect for the office market this year? We anticipate a bifurcated recovery—while specific markets are poised for meaningful growth, others will find their footing with more modest, incremental gains.

The 2025 Global Leasing Forecast

VTS has analyzed our proprietary office demand data, the industry’s only real-time predictive dataset and the earliest leading indicator of leasing activity, to forecast trends across three of the world’s most influential markets. These cities remain prime institutional investment targets for the next 18–24 months due to their high concentration of capital and talent.

Market Deep Dives

San Francisco: The 2025 Growth Pick

San Francisco is our standout pick for 2025. We forecast leasing activity to rise by 28% as the market aggressively recovers from its post-COVID deficit. This surge is expected to bring the city’s yearly leasing total to 9 million square feet.

New York City: Reaching the Plateau

New York remains a testament to urban resilience. By year-end 2024, it secured the highest office demand of any major U.S. market. While we expect a massive 34M square feet to be leased in 2025, this represents modest percentage growth simply because the market has already rebounded so significantly.

London: The Muted Near-Term

London is currently the only market where we anticipate a YoY decline. A temporary lack of new demand in the leasing pipeline is impacting our forecast. However, London remains the market most likely to outperform these projections if interest rate cuts stimulate demand in the latter half of the year.

Accountability: Reviewing Our 2024 Predictions

Precision matters in forecasting. During our inaugural forecast last year:

• NYC: We hit the mark with almost exact precision as leasing expanded by 30%.
• San Francisco: While slightly optimistic, the market still delivered excellent growth.
• London: Actual performance saw a modest decline rather than the slight growth we anticipated.

Data-Driven Advantage with VTS 4

Launched last year, VTS 4 brings this predictive market data directly in-app for our customers. By utilizing advanced commercial real estate lease management software with built-in predictive intelligence, owners and brokers can:

• Understand leasing trends 6–12 months before they are recorded.
• Track deal economics and pricing trends before leases are even signed.
• Identify active demand shifts in real-time.

Ready to lead the transformation?

Click here to learn more about VTS, schedule a demo, and talk to us about our forecasts for other major gateway markets.

The post 2025 VTS Leasing Prediction Outlook appeared first on VTS.

To navigate this landscape, CRE leaders need more than speculation; they need data-driven insights to implement an alpha-driven asset strategy.

Building on the success of our inaugural 2024 study, VTS has expanded our research to capture a more robust view of the market. This year, we commissioned dual surveys representing 800 industry leaders:

• 400 Property Managers revealing the realities of modern operations.
• 400 Business Leaders sharing their top priorities for the workplace.

A Three-Part Deep Dive into the Future of the Workplace

The 2025 Global Workplace Report cuts through the headlines to focus on the decision-makers who matter. We are releasing our findings in three focused chapters:

Chapter 1: The Evolution of Property Management (Available Now)

Our first chapter exposes an industry at a critical inflection point. As property managers strive to become strategic partners, they face significant operational headwinds:

• Strategic vs. Administrative Tension: 61% of property management teams say the majority of their time is consumed by work order management.
• The Tech Complexity Gap: Property managers must navigate an average of 5.22 different systems daily, creating a bloated tech stack.
• The Push for Integration: 69.76% of property managers are seeking unified platform solutions to eliminate cross-system data entry, which currently wastes 33% of their time.

Chapter 2: The Business Leader Perspective (Coming Soon)

What actually makes a tenant renew? This chapter explores the evolving tenant psyche:

• Beyond Location and Price: What factors are now top-of-mind for office renewal?
• Technical Experience: Early data shows nearly half of tenants view sub-par building tech as a primary hindrance to in-office attendance.
• The Branded Experience: Over 90% of tenants now view a branded building app as critical to their on-site experience.

Chapter 3: Mind the Gap (Coming Soon)

Our final chapter brings both perspectives together to expose critical misalignments. We identify where communication breakdowns affect satisfaction and provide actionable strategies to bridge the expectation gap between managers and tenants.

Data to Guide Your 2025 Strategy

Success in 2025 demands more than just maintaining buildings—it requires strategic focus and operational excellence. By leveraging commercial real estate lease management software and predictive market intelligence, leaders can move from reactive maintenance to proactive asset growth.

VTS is committed to providing the tools and data necessary to help CRE leaders make these critical decisions.

Take Action Now

• Get the Report: Sign up to receive the 2025 GWR straight to your inbox by clicking ‘Sign Up’ below.
• Track Demand: Look out for the January 29th release of the 2025 VTS Office Demand Index (VODI).
• Unlock Alpha: Book a demo at vts.com/demo to see how VTS helps you lead the transformation.

The future of commercial real estate belongs to those who stay ahead of the curve. Are you ready to take the lead?

The post Coming Soon: The 2025 Global Workplace Report appeared first on VTS.

One App for All Access Needs

Imagine a world where tenants no longer need to juggle multiple keycards or remember various access codes. With VTS, that world is here. Tenants can now store multiple digital access cards within the VTS app, granting them seamless entry to buildings, shared spaces, workplace suites, and even other office locations—all from their mobile device. This streamlined approach not only enhances convenience for tenants but also simplifies access management for your team.

Deep Integration with Leading Access Control Systems

Technology should make life easier, not more complicated. That’s why we’ve expanded our library of deep integrations with top access control systems, including Si-Pass, DSX, Gallagher, Maxxess, and Salto SVN. These integrations ensure that your existing security infrastructure works seamlessly with VTS, providing a frictionless experience for tenants.

Visitors Should Feel Like A VIP

First impressions matter, especially when it comes to visitors to your property. With the latest visitor management features, you can impress guests before they even arrive. The upgraded invitation flow allows tenant admins to invite visitors with just a few clicks, making the process intuitive and efficient. Visitors receive QR-enabled digital passes to access the building, enhancing security while providing a VIP experience.

But we didn’t stop there. We’ve also introduced features like multi-day and recurring visitor passes, allowing visitors to use a single QR code for multiple visits – no more repeat visits to the front desk for a printed pass. This is perfect for contractors, consultants, or any guests who need access over an extended period.

Visit: The Real Estate AI Revolution

Empower Your Operations Teams

Your property management team is the backbone of your operations, and their efficiency directly impacts tenant satisfaction. We’ve introduced new features to empower them, ensuring they have the tools they need to do their job efficiently.

With interactive maintenance steps, staff are guided through scheduled maintenance tasks with clear, step-by-step instructions and resources. This reduces errors and ensures that work orders are completed promptly and correctly.

Monitoring equipment health is crucial for uninterrupted operations. Our new equipment meter readings feature allows you to keep track of vital metrics, trigger escalation notifications, and monitor trends—all from your operations command center in VTS Activate. This proactive approach helps prevent downtime and extends the lifespan of your equipment.

Understanding that every team has unique needs, we’ve enhanced customizable permissions and notifications. You can now automate tailored communications so that everyone who needs to know is on the same page and give your team the exact permissions they need. 

Unlock Predictable Revenue with Flexible Booking and Subscriptions

Offering services and products for tenants and visitors to purchase increases both your hospitality-like atmosphere and predictable revenue. offerings Our new features empower you to unlock additional revenue streams by making your offerings easier to book and purchase. 

To provide convenience for tenants and establish predictable revenue streams for your property, we’ve launched subscriptions in content. Tenants can now subscribe to services like locker rentals or gym memberships with ease. This subscription model makes it easier to create your offerings in Activate, promote them, and simplifies the payment process for tenants–it’s a win for everyone. 

With the introduction of waitlists for bookable offerings, tenants can add themselves to a waitlist when a time slot is full. Maximize attendance and revenue potential for your events, desks, and other bookable offerings–tenants are automatically notified when a spot opens up and they can book on a first come, first serve basis. 

We’ve also introduced preferential booking options, allowing you to allocate specific quantities of event spaces, desks, or any offering with a quantity to certain tenant groups. For example, if you’re  hosting an event with 100 tickets, choose to allocate 80 tickets to tenants of 480 Main Street, and 20 tickets for tenants at your adjacent property, 460 Main Street.This gives a specific tenant or group a VIP-like experience to enhance their sentiment and  also helps you manage resources more effectively.

Actionable Insights for Better Decision-Making

Informed decisions are the cornerstone of successful property management. Our refreshed analytics dashboards offer deeper insights, enabling you to make strategic choices that benefit both your operations and tenant relationships.

Understanding visitor patterns is essential for optimizing staffing and security. Our new visitor analytics dashboard provides valuable data on which tenants invite the most visitors, peak times and visitor flow, and more, helping you understand your tenants’ behavior and streamline operations. 

Tenant satisfaction is a key indicator of retention and property success. With our tenant sentiment tracking, you can gauge how tenants feel about your services through a pre-populated survey. Results are available directly in the app, allowing you to address feedback promptly, track results and trends over time, and improve tenant relations.

Data visualization plays a crucial role in interpreting complex information. We’ve given our dashboards a fresh look with enhanced data visualizations and new chart types. Spot trends, analyze performance, and make data-driven decisions that propel your property forward.

We’re on a mission to empower the front lines of commercial real estate

Our fall ’24 innovations are designed to help you move faster, work smarter, and deliver unparalleled experiences to your tenants. We’re committed to providing you with the tools you need to drive and protect revenue while simplifying operations.

Interested in a deep dive into some of the latest innovations? Our Fall ‘24 Product Release page guides you through how VTS Activate can transform your tenant and resident experience.

[Learn More]

The post VTS Activate Unveils New Innovations this Fall ‘24: Simplify Access and Boost Tenant & Resident Engagement appeared first on VTS.