Manhattan Market Made Marked Improvement: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Daniel Edward Rosen — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:58:26 -0400

The Manhattan office market saw the largest monthly absorption total of square footage since July 2011, with 721,066 square feet in the month of May, according to a report from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

The availability rate also slightly improved, going down to 12.6 percent from 12.7 percent in April --marking the lowest availability rate since July 2011.

The vacancy rate improved to 7.4 percent, the lowest level the market has seen since August 2009.

While the average asking rent dropped to $51.79-a-square-foot from $52.03-a-square-foot in April. Despite the drop, the average asking rent remained well above the $46.82-a-square-foot reported in May 2011.

As for the rest of Manhattan:

Midtown

-The Midtown office market saw 524,090 square feet of positive absorption --a welcome change from the four consecutive months of negative absorption it saw in 2012. The year-to-date net total still is cringe-worthy, at a negative 375,668 square feet.

-Average asking rents were $63.72-a-square-foot, a 10.6 percent increase from the $57.60-a-square-foot a year ago.

-Availability rate improved to 13.0 percent from 13.2 percent in April. It was 12.9 percent a year ago.

-The Grand Central district improved as well, with 251,801 square feet of positive net absorption.

Midtown South

-In surprising news, the Midtown South submarket saw 33,075 square feet of negative absorption. The year-to-date net absorption number remained strong, at a total of 821,514 square feet.
-Availability rate rose to 10.0 percent, but is still below the 10.5 percent vacancy rate from May 2011.
-Average asking rents in the submarket grew to $40.26-a-square-foot from $39.71-a-square-foot in April.
-The vacancy rate ended at 5.7 percent, still the lowest in the city.

Downtown

-The submarket experienced 230,051 square feet of positive absorption in the month of May, bringing the year-to-date net total to 1.3 million square feet.
-Availability rate improved slightly, going to 15.8 percent from 15.9 percent. It's still at the lowest level since May 2011.
-The average asking rent dropped to $40.51-a-square-foot from $41.10-a-square-foot. It it still 12.8 percent higher than the $35.92-a-square-foot average asking rent from a year ago.

drosen@observer.com

The Commercial Observer » Manhattan Market Made Marked Improvement: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

Manhattan Market Made Marked Improvement: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank