It appears Manhattan commercial property sales are emerging from a two-year slump.
More than $22.5 billion in sales of office towers and apartment complexes were sold in the first half of 2018, a 34 percent increase on the same time the previous year, according to Bloomberg. Citing a recent Cushman & Wakefield report, the outlet stated the sales figure is still far short of an early-2015 high of $38 billion.
The two-year low is believed to have been caused by concern for rising interest rates and hesitancy from foreign buyers.
A similar prediction was made in February that suggested the slump was over. In 2017, large deals over $100 million totaled $11.6 billion in 2017 compared to the 2016 total of $23.5 billion for such transactions.
The report also pointed to dire state of retail real estate, which showed property values declined 15 percent in the past year. However, there are still large commercial deals being done, including Google’s acquisition of Chelsea Market for $2.4 billion last year. [Bloomberg] —David Jeans