Manhattan office leasing activity hits two-year high

Clockwise from top left: 550 Madison Avenue, 245 Park Avenue and 60 Wall Street
Clockwise from top left: 550 Madison Avenue, 245 Park Avenue and 60 Wall Street

According to this week’s market reports, tax reform may push homebuyers out of high-tax states and Manhattan leasing activity reached the highest level since April 2015.

Residential

Sales | Redfin

High-tax states like New York may be disproportionately harmed by the elimination of state and local tax (SALT) deductions. In a survey of 900 homebuyers, about one-third said that they would consider moving to another state if they can no longer deduct state and local taxes. Top destinations for defectors are mid-tier cities such as Phoenix and Atlanta. Read Redfin’s 2018 housing predictions here.

Luxury Sales | Leslie J. Garfield

There were nine signed contracts for townhouses in Manhattan and Brooklyn between Nov. 25 and Dec. 8. In Manhattan, the most expensive transaction involved 317 West 11th Street in the West Village, which sold for nearly $17 million. The highest-priced sale in Brooklyn was $5.2 million for 601 2nd Street in Park Slope.  Read the full report here.

Luxury Sales | Olshan Realty

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Last week, 30 contracts were signed at $4 million and above. Sales totaled $356.8 million, which is the highest dollar volume in a year. This was due to a buying spree at 432 Park Avenue. A mystery buyer purchased three units in the building for $120 million.  Each of the units had asking prices over $40 million. Read the full report here.

Commercial 

MarketView Snapshot | CBRE

Office leasing activity in Manhattan reached its highest level since April 2015. In November, the borough registered 2.9 million square feet in deals, which is 31 percent higher than the five-year monthly average of 2.2 million square feet. The best performing submarket was Midtown, which accounted for 1.9 million square feet in deals. The average asking rent in the borough stood at $73.46, which is flat compared to the previous month and the year before. Read the reports for Manhattan, Midtown, Midtown South and Downtown here.

The 20 Largest Hotel Sales of the Year | CommercialCafe

Gaw Capital Partners’ $340 million acquisition of the Standard High Line ranked as the fourth priciest hotel sale in the U.S. for 2017. Two other New York City transactions, both with the Jehovah’s Witnesses as the seller, appeared on the list. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors’ purchase of the Towers Hotel in Brooklyn placed 11th at $202.5 million while RFR Realty’s $135 million acquisition of a hotel stood at 18th place. Red the full report here.