Manhattan office leasing on track to hit highest volume since 2019

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Manhattan office leasing on track to hit highest volume since 2019

Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty pictures

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The office leasing in Manhattan rose to 3.7 million square foot in August in August in August and, according to a new report by Colliers, was well above the 10-year-month average of 2.72 million square foot. If the demand for the rest of 2025 continues at the same pace, the annual Volume of Manhattan would first exceed 40 million square foot since 2019.

In the past 25 years, an average of around 32 to 33 million square foot have been rented out in a certain year. In 2024, Manhattan returned to this average for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

“This is a very strong market in terms of demand,” said Franklin Wallach, Managing Director for Research and Business Development at Colliers.

“Certainly a return to the office is part of it – and low unemployment.

Since November 2024, he only pointed to over one million square meters of Manhattan office -leasing from Amazon.

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The legal sector is another main example. In 2023, a record year of the Leasing Activities recorded in Manhattan – more than 4 million square meters. Last year it was a little lower, but still over 2019.

“They also had a lot of flight to quality. New construction like a Vanderbilt, Hudson Yards, Manhattan West, where the availability in this new product has become very tight,” said Wallach.

As a result, the offer, known as the “availability rate” of newer office space, has dropped to 6.7% compared to the rate for older pre -war buildings. Manhattan's total availability rate decreased to 15%, the lowest since January 2021 and the 18th month in a row, in which the availability rate remained stable or tightened.

The availability rate in Midtown, Midtown South and Manhattan was tightened by Manhattan's three office signatures in August, while it remains stable in the city center.

At the end of August, the average rent for Manhattan offices was 74.73 USD per square foot, an increase of 1% compared to July. Compared to March 2020, however, rents are still 6% lower.

“If you have an increase of 1% during the month, this is a significant movement. Part of it is above average inexpensive on the market, but we have also started to make more landlords higher,” said Wallach.

Office conversions also have a major impact on delivery and pricing. In the past four years, Colliers has followed almost 9 million square meters of office space that were removed from the Manhattan market. This not only affects supply, but also demand and prices.

“On average, we saw on average 270,000 square foot leasing activities for every million square foot office building that is intended for the conversion because the tenants come out of this building and move to another building,” said Wallach.

In addition, the buildings that were converted had probably space for the below -average price, including the sub -registration, which is also cheaper. Your distance therefore increases the average price of the entire market in Manhattan.