New York City's life sciences sector has picked up some serious momentum heading into 2026, from a leasing standpoint. In the fourth quarter, velocity hit 163,000 square feet, a whopping 423 percent increase from the previous three months, according to the latest market report from CBRE.
Some notable signings in the fourth quarter listed by CBRE were two at 30-02 48th Avenue: confidential, unnamed tenants took 3,457 and 2,736 square feet in their respective signings. Another confidential tenant signed for 1,673 square feet at 430 East 29th Street.
For the full year, leasing was up by 138 percent year-over-year to 377,000 square feet.
Venture capital funding was also solid, coming in at $345.86 million during the fourth quarter, up two percent from the previous three months. However, the fourth quarter figures are down three percent from the five-year quarterly average.
Other fundamentals softened. Most notably, lab-exclusive asking rents plummeted by eight percent from the third quarter to $96.45 per square foot.
Also, the availability rate ticked up by 30 basis points to 27.4 percent. On an annual basis, the rate was up by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, lab requirements in NYC dropped to 330,000 square feet, down 24 percent quarter-over-quarter.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.