Manhattan Ends 2021 With Office Leasing Surge
January 3, 2022 | Mark Hallum | Commercial Observer
Manhattan leasing built on trends of increased commercial leasing throughout 2021, with the fourth quarter showing the most activity since late 2019, according to two new reports from Colliers International and Newmark.
The borough saw more than 8.6 million square feet leased in the fourth quarter, a 19.3 percent spike compared to the previous quarter and double the 4.16 million seen in the last three months of 2020, according to the Colliers data. The Newmark report put these figures closer to 8.3 million square feet of activity with growth of about 20.9 percent.
But, even though the market has made strides since the pandemic hit, Manhattan’s 2021 leasing volume for the full year was still 41.9 percent lower than the pre-pandemic numbers seen in 2019.
While the 25 million square feet leased in total in 2021 was down compared to 2019 levels, it still amounted to a 31.6 percent jump compared to the prior year and marks the strongest yearly growth since 2013, Colliers data show.
