Foot traffic in Houston is up significantly and ranks among the highest in the nation, according to two high-frequency leading indicators.
As of Nov. 1, Houston's restaurant reservation activity was down 31% year over year, according to online restaurant-reservation platform OpenTable, which makes its reservation data available to the public. This ranked Houston seventh among U.S. cities in terms of its reservation activity recovery; Scottsdale, Arizona, topped the list. This is well above European restaurants, which are now facing mandatory closings due to increased containment measures.
Honolulu and continental coastal cities San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C. have been slower to experience a resurgence in reservation activity. These cities have also experienced tougher containment measures and have seen new coronavirus cases flattened to among the lowest in the nation. In these cities, reservation activity was down in a range of 64% to 83% year over year.
Meanwhile, key fob provider Kastle publishes anonymous access control system data to the public. It looked at the 10 largest U.S. office markets, and among them, Houston ranked second behind only Dallas-Fort Worth in terms of office physical occupancy. Houston’s estimated physical occupancy was 38% versus Dallas-Fort Worth’s 41% as of Oct. 26.
The focus of new coronavirus cases has shifted to the Midwest and mountain region, where hotspots have recently emerged. Houston, which experienced a summer peak of 3,700 new cases per day on July 1, has seen new cases fall to under 500 per day as of Nov. 3, while the city’s positivity rate has fallen to under 5%.
As we’re well aware, the United States experienced a decline in new cases between mid-July and mid-September but has begun to experience a resurgence in new cases since then with record-high numbers in places. As such, a word of caution: These foot traffic numbers may change in the coming months, depending on the trajectory of the coronavirus and containment measures going forward. For a data-driven insight into COVID case trends, follow this link.
With information from the Costar group, OpenTable and Kastle.