From the May issue: Last month, one of the market’s most reliable indicators showed that Midtown landlords are still suffering — even as brokers claimed the period of steep rent declines in Manhattan was over. The effective rent — a closely guarded slice of data that measures how much office leases are worth when free rent and other landlord concessions are factored in — fell in the first three months of the year in Midtown’s Class A buildings, after rising over the fourth quarter of 2009.
Many brokers saw the decline in effective rents as the last gasp of the recession, but others said prices might fall for the foreseeable future. [more]
