Manhattan Office Rents Lowest Since 2018 as Supply Hits Record

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Mar 01 2021, 10:55 PMMar 01 2021, 11:26 PMMarch 01 2021, 10:55 PMMarch 01 2021, 11:26 PM

(Bloomberg) -- Office rents in Manhattan are dropping as the amount of available space is at highest level in at least two decades.

Average asking rents fell for an eighth straight month in February to $73.12 a square foot, the lowest since March 2018, according to a report by Colliers.

At the same time, space continues to pile up. The office availability rate rose for a ninth consecutive month to 15.5%, a record in data going back to 2000, the brokerage said. The amount of space listed by tenants for sublease jumped by 1.1 million square feet.

Leases were signed for less than 1 million square feet of Manhattan office space last month, a 51% drop from January. The five biggest agreements were in Midtown.

The office market continues to struggle nearly a year after the pandemic hit, emptying Manhattan’s skyscrapers. Most employees are still working from home. Just 14% of workers in the New York metropolitan area were back at their desks as of Feb. 17, according to data from Kastle Systems.