Will AI adoption shrink office space? Asia-Pacific firms are on the fence in survey
A new CBRE study finds 56 percent of Asia-Pacific corporate real estate executives are neutral on AI's impact on office space. One-fifth of firms expect AI to shrink their real estate needs. However, 25 percent anticipate AI adoption will require office expansion. The survey polled 651 executives across nine markets, including Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and India.
The CBRE survey results challenge the common assumption that AI will simply reduce office space. A significant 25 percent of Asia-Pacific firms expect AI to increase their real estate footprint. This suggests a more nuanced impact, where AI drives new types of work or collaboration requiring physical space, rather than just automating existing roles out of offices. The focus shifts from pure desk count to specialized AI infrastructure.
For markets like mainland China and India, which were weighted more heavily in the survey, this complex outlook is critical. Their large tech sectors and rapid AI adoption mean real estate strategies will need to adapt quickly. Companies like Tencent or Alibaba, investing heavily in AI, will need to balance remote work flexibility with physical space for R&D labs and specialized teams. This could drive demand for premium, purpose-built AI facilities.
The thing to watch is how quickly this 25 percent figure grows in the next 12 to 18 months. If more firms shift from neutral to expansion, it would signal a broader trend of AI driving specialized office demand. This would benefit commercial real estate developers focused on high-tech infrastructure in Asian innovation hubs like Singapore and Shenzhen.
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