Manhattan Office Market Still Rising
For Manhattan offices overall average rent and leasing activity were up, with a decline in availabilities for April 2019, according to the Colliers International Market Snapshot Report.
NEW YORK CITY—For Manhattan, Colliers International’s monthly snapshot report documented optimistic statistics for April: The average asking rent in April 2019 was $77.44, up from the prior month of March at $76.57, with an even more noticeable increase year-over-year, with April 2018 at $73.36.
Within the submarkets, Downtown’s numbers indicate a neighborhood for possible deals. The Colliers data showed a year-over-year decrease, with the asking rents in April 2019 at $62.49 compared to $62.55 in April 2018. In CBRE’s presentation in the beginning of April, the brokerage’s CEO, New York Tri-State Region, Mary Ann Tighe had also pointed out, “There is alway a discount Downtown. Always.”
Overall in Manhattan, the leasing activity almost doubled from the prior month. In March 2019, 1.95 million square feet was leased, jumping to 3.82 million square feet in April 2019. Year-over-year, in April 2018, 3.53 million square feet was leased.
Midtown and Midtown South still dominated the big office deal: In size, the top two office leases in April 2019 were in Midtown, with Colgate-Palmolive renewing 241,657 square feet at 300 Park Ave. and Y&R signing a new 214,372 square-foot-lease at 3 Columbus Circle. The next three largest April leases were in Midtown South. WeWork leased 212,937 square feet at 620 Ave. of the Americas. First Republic Bank took 211,521 square feet at 460 W. 34th St. At 66 Hudson Boulevard, at the Spiral, AllianceBernstein rented 189,226 square feet.
Tenants moving to Hudson Yards did not reflect increased availability for Midtown or Midtown South. In Midtown, availability remained unchanged holding at 10% from March through April 2019. Year-over-year, office availability declined—although only from a 10.2% level in April 2018. In Midtown South in 2019 availability dropped from 8.1% in March to 7.7% in April. Year-over-year, Midtown South’s availability dropped from 8.9% in April 2018.
Downtown availability slightly rose from 11.6% in March 2019 to 11.9% in April 2019. However, Colliers also reports it rose from 10.4% in April 2018.