The Midtown office vacancy rate reached 17 percent this July, marking a 38 percent increase from the beginning of 2009, according to data from Tenantwise, a commercial real estate tracking group, while rent-per-square foot dropped 28 percent to $58. While some claim that the commercial real estate market in Midtown isn’t as bad as the 1970s trough, New York Magazine says that Midtown Manhattan’s skyscrapers are struggling. The result is a crop of so-called vulture investors, who hope to profit off the bottom-rung prices.

It’s one year ago to the day since the Lehman Brothers collapse that rocked the financial world and, subsequently, the real estate market. Yet some sectors of the industry — commercial, in particular, still struggle — and experts even question whether a new, commercial real estate market-driven collapse is on its way. In the days after the global financial services group’s bankruptcy, market experts were scrambling to predict just how severe the collapse would be. Ultimately, Sept. 14, 2008, ushered in the worst economic crisis the U.S. had seen since World War II. And the New York City residential and commercial real estate markets were not immune. [more]

From the outset of the discussion on Manhattan’s commercial real estate market this morning, developer Kent Swig of Swig Equities gave a gloomier assessment than co-panelist and landlord Norman Sturner of Murray Hill Properties. Swig, at times waxing poetically about the troubles in the securitized commercial debt market, said although residential properties showed signs of stabilizing, the office market had farther to fall. “I don’t know if picking up is the right term,” he said of the commercial real estate industry. [more]

From the May issue: Anecdotal metrics such as space inspections,
inquiries and offers indicated that commercial real estate activity was
up in the past month, compared to a near-standstill in December and
January, brokers said. But the number of leases signed remained low. “I
have seen more leasing activity in the last three weeks than I did in
the preceding three months,” David Hoffman, executive managing director
at full-service brokerage Colliers ABR, said in late April. But he
added, “It is not a very quick process. I can’t say in the last three
weeks we have signed a lot of leases.” Cory Abdo, a tenant
representative broker and executive vice president at Winoker Realty,
saw a similar trend. [more]