The nation’s office-to-apartment conversion pipeline continues to grow. According to a new report from RentCafe, 90,300 units were in the process for conversion at the start of 2026—up 28% year over year and nearly four times higher than in 2022.
A large share of the pipeline didn’t start this year. Nearly 66,500 units were already underway a year ago.
In addition, office conversions comprise almost half, 47%, of all future adaptive-reuse projects nationwide, followed by hotel at 18%, industrial properties at 16%, and other building types, such as health care facilities, schools, and government buildings, at roughly 19%.
According to RentCafe, national office vacancy was close to 20% in early 2025, while physical occupancy in many buildings hovered around 50% to 55%. This has resulted in millions of square feet underutilized, creating the opportunity for residential conversions.
“COVID-19 is to the office market what e-commerce was to retail. As a result, there is simply too much office space in the market right now,” noted Yardi Research director Peter Kolaczynski.
The report highlighted that over 1.9 billion square feet of office space, or about 24% of total inventory, is considered suitable for conversion, according to CommercialEdge’s Conversion Feasibility Index.
Even as office occupancy has returned to pre-pandemic levels in New York, the metro area leads the nation with 16,358 future converted units—a 97% year-over-year increase. Many older office buildings are slated for conversion this year, driven by demand as well as layouts that are easier to adapt for residential.
Washington, D.C., follows, with 8,479 office-to-residential units in the pipeline. According to the report, the return of most government workers for in-person work has increased demand for housing in the city’s core. Office conversions have emerged as a way to add housing in areas where new construction is limited.
Coming in at No. 3 is Chicago with 4,360 future converted units. In the metro, future office-to-residential conversions are expected to come from buildings averaging 90 years old.
Los Angeles and Dallas round out the top five metros, with 4,340 and 3,966 units in the pipeline, respectively. Denver, Philadelphia, and Cleveland are new to this year’s top 10.
However, not all metros are seeing this amount of conversion activity. Seven of the nation’s top 20 metros are seeing declines, with Minneapolis, -22%, and Kansas City, Missouri, -19%, seeing the steepest year-over-year drops.
At the national level, 32% of all conversions under development are located in the Northeast, followed by 29% in the South, 22% in the Midwest, and 17% in the West.