Mayor of Boston, the team boasts an economic rebound in the face of problems in the commercial sector

Commercial space for rent on Newbury St. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Amid warnings that falling commercial real estate values ​​have sent Boston toward an urban “doom loop,” Mayor Michelle Wu and her administration are touting a new report that paints a relatively rosy picture of economic recovery.

The report, authored by the Boston Planning and Development Agency, now under City Hall, describes a city that is steadily recovering from pandemic declines in downtown foot traffic, tourism and employment and an increase in office vacancies.

“In the overall context, we see that cities across the country are experiencing a period of uncertainty, in some ways still continuing to recover from the pandemic, as remote work trends and other changes in mobility and decision-making continue to stabilize,” he added. Wu said during a news conference ahead of Tuesday’s release of the report.

“Given the national landscape, the signs we are seeing in Boston are very encouraging and indicate that we continue to have an extremely strong foundation for economic recovery,” Wu added, attributing the city’s economic recovery in part to strong public safety, clean streets, walkability communities and good access to health care.

While office vacancies remain well below pre-pandemic rates in 2019, for example, Boston actually fares better than other major cities, ranking fourth lowest in this index of comparable cities tracked by the commercial real estate (CRE) sector, Segun Idowu, said the head of economic opportunity and social inclusion.

Idowu said the situation is getting even better when it comes to employment, saying that citywide, “we have not only recovered from the pandemic, but we have also reached the level of 2019.” – creating 10,000 additional jobs.

Unemployment in Boston is lower than both Massachusetts and the nation, Idowu said, before moving on to what people are spending at city businesses, which he said is close to levels seen before the pandemic.

Spending in Boston is about 96% of what it saw in 2019. While the downtown rate is lower at 90%, Idowu said it’s still a “really strong and positive indicator” of the progress being made on travel, tourism and traffic pedestrian .

For example, pedestrian traffic is about 94% of 2019 levels citywide and about 80% in the “larger downtown area,” Idowu said.

While business travel at Logan International Airport is not as popular and may never fully return to normal, international travel is approaching 2019 levels and is a significant source of tourism revenue, Hilina Ajakaiye, executive vice president of Meet Boston, formerly of Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, he added.

“This reflects the fact that our downtown is moving in a positive direction and that, overall, our small businesses benefit from year-round resident support,” Idowu said.