“No evidence” of stock market impact on Midtown office values: report

Midtown office values continue to operate at all-time highs that are well above 2007 peaks, with “no evidence” that recent stock market turmoil nor a strengthening dollar have impacted property values or investor demand, real estate analytics firm Green Street Advisors said.

While office values in Midtown held unchanged in August from the previous month, they continued to trend 12 percent above year-earlier values and 11 percent over their mid-2007 peak, according to Green Street’s Midtown Manhattan Office Price Index.

As with previous reports this year, the firm cited “strengthening” market fundamentals and “robust capital flows” that “continue to provide a solid backdrop for Midtown office values.”

Green Street also discarded concerns that global stock market turmoil, a stronger dollar and pressure on oil prices have had an impact on the Midtown office market, though it noted that “these trends bear close monitoring.”

The Midtown office market is “dominated” by commercial landlords and real estate investment trusts Boston Properties, SL Green Realty and Vornado Realty Trust, according to the firm, with public company-owned properties holding an estimated value of $50 billion.

Midtown also ranks as the most expensive office market in the Americas and the 10th priciest market in the world, according to a CBRE survery earlier this year.