Manhattan Office Leasing Picks Up as Landlords Sweeten Deals
- With supply rising, owners have to compete to lure tenants
- Asking rents fall, payouts to spruce up spaces climb
Residential and commercial buildings stand in New York, U.S., on Friday, March 23, 2012. Manhattan office leasing in the first quarter is poised to be the lowest in almost three years as Wall Street cut jobs and needed less space, according to preliminary data from brokerage Studley Inc.
Photographer: Scott Eells/BloombergManhattan office leasing is on the rise -- thanks in large part to deal sweeteners offered by landlords.
With big companies reducing space and new towers rising across New York, office owners are trying to attract tenants by lowering asking rents and shelling out cash to fix up properties. Such moves helped prop up demand in the third quarter, according to a new report by Savills Studley. Manhattan leasing soared 32 percent from the previous three months to 9.1 million square feet (845,000 square meters), well above the historical average of 7.5 million, the brokerage said.