Submarket-specific highlights from the report include:

Midtown's quarterly leasing volume fell by nearly one-half since the Q3 to 1.49 million square feet, the submarket's lowest quarterly leasing activity ever. Midtown's full-year leasing activity (9.23 million square feet) was 41.8 percent less than 2019, marking the worst year of activity in Midtown this century. The submarket also recorded its highest quarterly negative absorption since 2009.
Midtown South's quarterly leasing volume increased by 45.6 percent since 3Q 2020 to 1.91 million square feet, but year-over-year leasing activity decreased by 60.4 percent. The submarket also saw its lowest yearly leasing volume since 2012 and the largest percentage increase for net availability within Manhattan's three major submarkets.
While Lower Manhattan's quarterly leasing increased since Q3 2020, Downtown's volume was still significantly less than the 3.89 million square feet recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019. Notable transactions included renewals by Justworks at 55 Water Street (270,000 SF), Topps Company at 1 Whitehall Street (71,000 SF), and the City of New York (157,000 SF) at 250 Broadway.
The leading sale in the fourth quarter was SL Green's and Kaufman Organization's partial interest sale of 410 Tenth Avenue to 601W Companies for $952.8 million ($1,742/ SF).
The Times Square submarket showed the highest full-year leasing volume in 2020 with 2.96 million square feet. Murray Hill (0.90 million square feet), City Hall (0.31 million square feet) and U.N. Plaza (0.20 million square feet) were the only Manhattan submarkets with higher yearly volume.
Hudson Yards/ Manhattan West (8.1%) was the only Manhattan submarket with a tighter availability rate during 4Q 2020.
Availability in the Hudson Square submarket increased from 4.5 percent to 12.8 percent in 2020, the largest percentage point increase among Manhattan's submarkets.
The Greenwich Village submarket ($89.95/ SF) showed the largest average asking rent decrease year-over-year, an 18.3 percent decrease since the end of 2019.

Instant Insights /

Manhattan Office Leasing Volume At Lowest Level in 20 years

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