Manhattan office lease sector tapers off

Following a record-setting 2018, office leasing in Manhattan has begun to taper off, recording a little more than 7 million square feet of leasing activity in first quarter 2019, down 3 percent compared to a year ago, according to Transwestern’s Downtown Manhattan Office Outlook (Q1, 2019) report.

Despite the decline, 25 new leases each exceeding 50,000 square feet were executed, including seven that topped 100,000 square feet. Midtown continued to dominate big block transactions, recording 15 new transactions that exceeded 50,000 square feet, including four over 100,000 square feet. Downtown witnessed a resurgence in the first quarter, recording eight new transactions topping 50,000 square feet, including three exceeding 100,000 square feet, resulting in more than 2 million square feet of leasing activity. The FIRE sector continued to remain one of the market’s most active, accounting for a third of leasing activity with 11 new transactions over 50,000 square fe