NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Investors who shunned the beleaguered U.S. office market in recent years are coming back, brightening the outlook for the sector after five years of turmoil, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

"Some investors are buying premium-quality buildings that are burdened with debt, or scooping up half-empty towers for pennies on the dollar," noted the report. "Others are bidding on obsolete office properties with an eye toward converting them to apartments. Some big foreign investors are showing renewed interest, hoping to beat what they believe will be an even larger surge of buying later in 2025."

"People are making their bets," Gary Phillips, managing director of real-estate investment banking firm Eastdil Secured, was quoted as saying.

The volume of office building sales increased to 63.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, up 20 percent from 2023, according to data firm MSCI. That activity still pales compared with 2015 to 2019, when volume averaged 142.9 billion dollars a year. "But it marked the first increase since 2021," added the report. Enditem

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