Midyear Leasing by the Numbers

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unnamed1 Midyear Leasing by the NumbersThrough the first six months of 2014, Manhattan leasing activity totaled 17,837,091 square feet, a miniscule 0.71 percent dip compared to the same time period in 2013. Of the 17.8 million square feet leased, 74 percent of the leases signed were new or subleases, while only 26 percent were renewals. That’s a slight difference from 2013, when 31 percent of the square footage leased was renewals. Midtown accounted for 54 percent of the total square footage leased, while Midtown South and Lower Manhattan accounted for 25 and 21 percent, respectively.

Large tenants continued to commit to significant spaces, as 30 leases over 100,000 square feet were completed by midyear. These large deals accounted for only 4.4 percent of the number of leases signed this year, slightly above the historical average of 2.8 percent. Leases smaller than 20,000 square feet still account for the bulk—75.1 percent—of activity.

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Despite big deals accounting for less than 5 percent of all leases signed, they account for 50 percent of the square footage leased in 2014 and total 8.8 million square feet. This is up significantly from the historical average of 36.4 percent, and can be attributed to 11 leases signed greater than 300,000 square feet through the first six months of this year.

Finance and insurance, professional services, and the TAMI sector continued to be the top three industry groups to lease space in Manhattan. Despite minimal employment growth from financial services firms, finance and insurance companies have led the way and leased 30.9 percent of the space in Manhattan this year. Lease renewals accounted for 53.7 percent of this sector’s leasing activity. Professional services come in second with 22.1 percent of the leasing activity, a slight dip from 23.7 percent in 2013. TAMI continued to pick up steam, and accounted for 21.8 percent of all activity, up from 15.4 percent in 2013.