NEW YORK CITY-Last week Mayor Giuliani announced the city gained7,800 new private sector jobs in November, furthering its positionas leading American city for job growth. Giuliani stated, “Thisnews further shows that New York City's economic renaissancecontinues and has shown no signs of slowing down.” Despite loomingfears of a recession, leasing activity continues to outpace lastyear in the office market, reflecting job growth and the city'soverall economy.

According to Insignia/ESG's December 2000 Office Market Review,available space “dropped to approximately half over the past yearto 3.5% in Midtown and 4.3% Downtown and declined slightly to 5.3%in Midtown South, despite several new subleases that surfaced.” Thereport also found that average asking rents “rose to yet anotherall-time high Downtown, bounced back in Midtown from October'sslight decline to within $0.61 of the all-time high and dippedslightly in Midtown South.” The Financial District is still thehottest sub market with 77% of Downtown's leasing and the samepercentage of this segment's net absorption.

“For those looking for signs that the sky is falling, they'renot here,” Joseph R. Harbert, COO of Insignia/ESG's New York regionwrites in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “Thenumbers show that the market is strong and solid.”