Weighing in on the Manhattan office market

Despite the fact that leasing velocity is down in Manhattan and financial firms are dumping office space, some real estate bigwigs say they are not that worried about how far rents will drop. The global chairman of CB Richard Ellis, Stephen Siegel, said the office market will rebound fast. He noted that rents went up 100 percent in the last three and a half years. “If you go down only 20 percent … you will be very quickly back up,” Siegel said during a recent broadcast on CUNY-TV with Real Deal columnist Michael Stoler. Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff, CEO of the Witkoff Group, said there is a mentality of fear out there among banks. For the full video go to www.stolerreport.com.