NEW YORK CITY—After a slow start that saw the Manhattan officemarket post a negative 2.3 million square feet of absorption inJanuary, the borough's office sector has rebounded with threestraight months of positive absorption, according to a reportreleased today by brokerage firm DTZ.

In its latest office market report authored by RichardPersichetti, vice president, research, marketing andconsulting, and research manager Lauren Hale, DTZstates that there was 197,899 square feet of positive absorption inthe month of April, fueled by leasing activity in Midtown andDowntown. The three months of positive leasing have brought theyear-to-date negative absorption level to 1.5 million square feet.So far this year there have been 19 lease deals of more than100,000 square feet in Manhattan.

The overall Manhattan availability rate fell 10 basis points to9.7%, while the asking rent in Manhattan is $70.10 per-square-foot.Class A office rents borough-wide rose $0.67-per-square-foot to$77.18 per-square-foot, the highest price increase for prime officespace so far this year, DTZ reports.