Also their investment portfolios.

I don't suspect any grand conspiracy, but I do think a lot of asset managers have had chats with high net worth individuals and gone over just what the collapse of the commercial real estate market would look like for them personally, especially with the stock market being so shaky as of recent.

I suspect these causal conversations are behind a large number CEOs return to office strategies (in addition to justifying their office investment as you mention) as well as Malcolm Gladwell's sudden revelation that working in an office is super important for everyone who is not him.

The commercial real estate market has no reason to collapse. In these cities with a lot of vacant office space, like NYC today, what do you also have? Enormous demand for apartment housing. Land owners never lose money in these hot markets where apartments are leased the day they are put to market. Your building could burn down and it doesn't matter, the money is in the deed to the dirt and the zip code, and the potential rents that this piece of dirt in this zip code can yield based on the zoning of the property.

I think that and retention. It’s well known that remote jobs make it way easier to jump, plus people are less attached to their coworkers.

That’s still not a good reason, since you are essentially trying to guilt people into staying or making their life more busy so interviewing is harder.

This sounds likely, but is there solid data to support this?

An HR department at a giant company probably does have solid data.

There is also a lot of pressure from local governments to get companies to force people back to work as the businesses built up around large biz centers suffer if everyone works from home (no one eating out for lunch, going to beers after work, getting coffees, getting dry cleaning, etc etc)

This is true.

I will say I've been work from home for years now and I still do all of those things ;). Just not with my coworkers. And not always in the heart of downtown, but more local to where I am.

The money is still spent, just not in the same places.

Or, if they want more people in the area, they could zone for housing in these downtowns that they previously hollowed out the housing for to build these offices and their parking lots.

okay but if you're an executive surely cutting the entire office budget would be a massive win for the business?