Manhattan Market Reports

Manhattan Office Market

One year into the pandemic, the first quarter continued recent quarterly trends, with activity continuing to be severely constrained, availability increasing, and absorption closing at near record lows. First-quarter activity totaled 4.4 million square feet, matching fourth quarter totals, but was 23.3% below the quarterly average of 5.7 million square feet in 2020. The six deals of at least 100,000 square feet, led by Blackstone’s 720,000-square-foot lease at 345 Park Avenue, composed 31.7% of overall velocity. Despite the limited activity, there were 94 new tenants in the market this quarter, more than in the first quarter of both 2019 and 2020. This is more than double the amount of new entrants to the market between March and September 2020. Although a sign of potential uptick in activity and a modest improvement in employment, these tenants are searching for a combined 3.8 million square feet, 43.3% below the 2020 total of 6.7 million square feet.