Manhattan's Office Leasing Activity, Availability Rate Up While Asking Rent Declines
Eight leases of more than 100,000 square feet drove leasing activity in Manhattan in July.
Leasing activity is up in the Manhattan real estate market while prices declined, according to a new study by Colliers International.
Leasing activity was up to 2.39 million square feet for office space in all of Manhattan in July, a fivefold increase from .42 in June and marking the strongest month for the indicator since January. At the same time, the borough’s availability rate rose to 11% from 10.6% in June, while average asking rent dropped: in July, the average asking rent for all of Manhattan was $79 per square foot per year, down from $79.32 in June but still above July 2019′s rate of $78.40 per square foot per year.
Colliers attributed some of the bump in leasing activity to eight separate leases that were each more than 100,000 square feet — among them NBCUniversal Media’s 339,833 square foot lease renewal at 1221 Avenue of the Americas; BNB Paribas’s 322,586 square foot lease renewal at 787 Seventh Avenue; American International Group (AIG)’s new, 217,638 square foot lease at 28 Liberty Street; Goodwin Procter’s 216,419 square foot lease renewal and expansion 620 8th Avenue; and Strook & Strook & Lavan’s 191,634 square foot lease renewal at 180 Maiden Lane.
Midtown Manhattan had the strongest leasing activity in July at 1.54 million square feet — up from .29 million square feet in June and 1.25 a year ago — followed by Downtown, at .44 million square feet and Midtown South, at .40 million square feet. Colliers said high leasing activity in Midtown was due in part to the City of New York’s 174,000 square foot lease renewal at 260 Eleventh Avenue and Quinn Emmanuel’s 160,000 square foot lease renewal at 51 Madison Avenue.
Midtown’s availability rate was also the highest in July, at 12.2%, while Downtown’s availability rate was 11% and Midtown South’s availability rate was 9.4%.
Asking rents were also highest in Midtown, where the average lease was $85.93 per square foot. The average asking rent in Midtown South was $76.64 per square foot, and the average asking rent Downtown was $65.37.