Manhattan office market shows little change

Overall asking rent for Manhattan office space climbed slightly to $47.73 per square foot in August, from $47.57 per square foot in July, according to CB Richard Ellis’ latest market report. The vacancy rate in Manhattan also showed modest improvement, dropping gradually month-over-month to 13.4 percent, from 13.7 percent. Compared to August 2009, vacancy was down .5 percent. Of the borough’s prime office neighborhoods, the Downtown market struggled the most, showing its slowest leasing momentum since September 2009, as the vacancy rate remained steady at 14.3 percent. Midtown, however, showed promise: 10.55 million square feet has been leased so far this year, up 56 percent from the same time period last year. TRD