New York Market Overview
- Total Manhattan Class A Office vacancies decreased from 9.0 % vacant to 8.8 % vacant
- Total New York City Office vacancy decreased from 7.8 % vacant to 7.7 % vacant
New York City Market Overview
There was more new residential construction than commercial construction in New York. Commercial construction investment is on pace to dip to $7.8 billion, rising residential spending of $10.9 billion from just $6.8 billion from the previous year.
The following building department applications were filed in September. Half of the top 10 projects were filed in Manhattan and the other half in Brooklyn. 401 Ninth Avenue a1,600,000 SF office building in HudsonYards. 227 Cherry Street a 1,100,000 SF, a Residential building. 420 Albee Square 751,548-SF mixed use building in Brooklyn.
Retail rents along 57th Street have surged as multi-millionaires and billionaires have closed on pricey condominium units on Park Avenue, and developers moved forward with other expensive residential towers. Retail on Broadway near the World Trade Center also rose sharply.
The Manhattan office market continued to tighten as rising employment increased the number of office users in the borough.
Third Avenueonce the last resort for New York's office tenants is gaining in popularity as the overall office market is improving. The availability rate of the area through September dropped to 10.7 percent from 13.4 percent. Midtown's overall availability rate was 11.1 percent. During the same period, rents on Third Avenue rose to $59.90 per square foot from $57.45 per square foot.
Downtown office asking rents have risen 8 percent since the beginning of 2014, surpassing gains in Midtown and tech-friendly Midtown South. Rents continue to rise despite large chunks of space from the World Trade Center site and Brookfield Place entering the market.
With the world in turbulence and uncertainty, nothing appears safer to foreign investors than buying residential condominiums in New York.
A crop of new big blocks of office space will keep the Lower Manhattan market in the running when it comes to wooing large tenants.
New York is the top market for real estate investment for the fourth year in a row with London closing the gap as foreign investors pile in. There is also strong demand for New York City investment properties even though sales dipped over the past quarter as buyers absorbed the continuing increases in values.
Technology, advertising and media companies are moving to Downtown Manhattan in increasingly large numbers. To date more than 800 TAMI tenants have moved downtown.
Midtown South office market remains hot with tech-tenants responsible for 13 of the 50 priciest leases signed in the third quarter.
