Office rental crisis? Not in these hot tech markets

After aggressively reducing its appetite for new office space during the pandemic, the tech industry has caught up to 2019 leasing activity levels, according to a soon-to-be released CBRE report that was shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

Tech companies are now leasing 22% of U.S. office space, after scaling back to 17% in 2020. And two-thirds of tech markets are experiencing rental gains over 2019. 

The industry experienced pandemic-related business growth in areas like e-commerce, streaming and cloud services, search and social media. It added 219,000 jobs by June 2021.

Total high-tech employment reached 3.9 million that month, 3.3% above its pre-pandemic high, fueled by demand for tech products and service. It is surpassed only by the life sciences industry.