Manhattan available office space highest in five years, Cushman & Wakefield says

Available office space rose to 41.2 million square feet, the highest
level in the past four and a half years, according to the
second-quarter report released today by full-service commercial real
estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. The availability rate reached 11.5 percent, up from 10.5 percent at the end of first-quarter 2009. Asking rents also showed weakness. They fell in Manhattan, dropping 7.4 percent to $60.23 per square foot from $65.01 per foot in the first quarter of the year. “Things are better than they were last quarter,” said Joseph Harbert, chief operating officer at Cushman & Wakefield, this morning during a presentation of the data. The market showed improvement in June, with 1.7 million square feet leased in Manhattan, up from 805,000 square feet leased in May.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter