Lower Manhattan 3Q12 Leasing.

Over the course of the next three years, lower Manhattan will experience a leasing anomaly: as new and more-efficient office space hits the market,
supply and rental rates are expected to escalate simultaneously.

For real estate analysts, who have estimated that vacancy rates could skyrocket to as high as 17.5 percent by 2015, the prospect of more product is exciting, if a bit unnerving.

As for right now, Ken McCarthy, a senior economist at Cushman & Wakefield, reviewed lower Manhattan’s third-quarter stats with The Commercial Observer and discussed which data points could affect the short-term health of the market that Silverstein Properties’ 1 World Trade Center and Brookfield Properties’ World Financial Center both call home.