Looking at activity in the Manhattan office market during the third quarter, the picture is murky. Overall, activity jumped by a million square feet, rising to 4.6 million square feet from 3.6 million, according to Newmark Knight Frank's latest quarterly research.

Other indicators also showed declines—or increases where no one wants them. Negative absorption of 10,973,238 square feet was seen after a spike in availability, marking the highest volume of negative quarterly absorption on record, NKF said. Further, year-to-date absorption through the first three quarters of 2020 hit its lowest point since 2001, and the metric has now been negative in seven of the last eight quarters.

Overall, the Manhattan availability rate increased to 14.1%, from 11.9% in the second quarter, as a staggering 18 out of 19 submarkets experienced an increase. The one submarket that performed well was Penn Station, where Facebook leased all of 390 Ninth Ave., aka the Farley Post Office, which was a 730,000-square-foot commitment.