Manhattan Office Market Notches Busiest Half-Year Since 2014
Activity did decline in the second quarter following an unusually busy first, new Colliers report says
By Amanda Schiavo July 1, 2025 2:17 pm
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Manhattan’s office sector delivered mixed messages in the second quarter of 2025. While leasing activity declined from the previous quarter, the two quarters combined delivered Manhattan’s strongest six months of demand since 2014, according to the latest research from Colliers.
Manhattan office leasing activity for the second quarter of 2025 slid by 18.9 percent from the previous quarter to 9.23 million square feet. However, second-quarter leasing activity was still 28 percent above the five-year quarterly average of 7.21 million square feet, and 13.9 percent higher than the 10-year average of 8.11 million square feet.
The quarter-over-quarter decline can be attributed to an unusually busy first quarter, Franklin Wallach, executive managing director of research and business development for Colliers in New York, told Commercial Observer. Tenants took 11.4 million square feet in the first quarter.
“Was [the dip] a major surprise? No,” Wallach said. “Because it was such a number to beat from Q1. So that was a very tall order to repeat.”
Overall, the activity in the second quarter highlighted a healthy market with strong demand.
“If you took just the Q2 leasing by itself, which was over 9 million square feet, is that a healthy quarter of activity? Sure is. It beat the five-year average,” Wallach continued. “The overall Manhattan market over the last 25 years averages out around 8 to 8.5 million square feet of leasing per quarter. That’s the typical quarterly Manhattan average over the last quarter century. This was over 9 million square feet. That’s a solid quarter.”
Some of the largest transactions in the second quarter were the 1.08 million-square-foot lease at 770 Broadway by New York University, Amazon taking 330,000 square feet at 10 Bryant Park, and law firm Goodwin Procter inking a 250,000-square-foot lease at 200 Fifth Avenue.
Manhattan leasing activity for the first half of the year totaled 20.63 million square feet, a rise of 42.2 percent when compared to the same six-month period in 2024. If demand continues at this pace for the rest of 2025, Colliers predicts that full-year leasing could hit 41.26 million square feet, surpassing 2024’s total by 23.7 percent.
Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.
