Scorecard: Manhattan office leasing just keeps sliding

From the November Issue: Office leasing in Downtown and Midtown South were off sharply in the past four months compared with the same period in 2015, an analysis of CoStar Group data by The Real Deal revealed.

Midtown, however, saw more office leasing activity during that time — led by big deals at Hudson Yards.

Midtown South leasing volume between the beginning of July and the end of October fell to 1.3 million square feet, from 2.1 million square feet, a decline of nearly 40 percent compared with the same period last year.

“The demand has softened because a lot of tenants are going to Long Island City,” Catherine O’Toole [TRDataCustom], of Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance, said.

Meanwhile, Downtown leasing fell by nearly 50 percent.

Midtown was the outlier, with several blockbuster leases, including Coach’s 694,000-square-foot lease at 10 Hudson Yards and Random House’s 631,025-square-foot lease renewal at 1745 Broadway.

Overall, office leasing in Manhattan during the four- month period fell by 12 percent, from 10.4 million square feet in 2015 to 9.1 million square feet in 2016. That decline in leasing volume has given tenants more leverage than in the past few years.

“We are at the inflection point right about now,” said Savills Studley’s David Carlos. “We see availability starting to grow.”