This paper estimates the value firms place on access to city centers and how this has changed with COVID-19. Pre-COVID, across 89 U.S. urban areas, commercial rent on newly executed long-term leases declines 2.3 percent per mile from the city center and increases 8.4 percent with a doubling of zipcode employment density. These relationships are stronger for large, dense “transit cities” that rely heavily on subway and light rail. Post-COVID, the commercial rent gradient falls by roughly 15% in transit cities, and the premium for proximity to transit stops also falls. We do not see a corresponding decline in the commercial rent gradient in more car-oriented cities, but for all cities the rent premium associated with employment density declines sharply following the COVID-19 shock.

本文估计了公司对进入市中心的价值以及 COVID-19 的变化情况。在 COVID 之前，在美国 89 个城市地区，新执行的长期租约的商业租金从市中心每英里下降 2.3%，随着邮政编码就业密度增加一倍，增长 8.4%。对于严重依赖地铁和轻轨的大型、密集的“交通城市”，这些关系更为牢固。COVID 之后，公交城市的商业租金梯度下降了大约 15%，靠近公交站点的溢价也下降了。我们没有看到更多以汽车为导向的城市的商业租金梯度相应下降，但对于所有城市来说，在 COVID-19 冲击之后，与就业密度相关的租金溢价急剧下降。