New York City Office Market Report

Midtown offices see jump in utilization, leasing. Manhattan’s prime office corridors are entering the latter half of the year poised for further improvement. Placer.ai’s New York City office index noted foot traffic in Midtown and Lower Manhattan was just 14.5 percent behind the January 2020 baseline. This places local office attendance at the highest level since the onset of the health crisis, and decidedly outperforms the national average, which recorded visitation at 32.3 percent below the pre-pandemic norm. Leasing data indicates that firms are targeting floor plans in neighborhoods with major commuter nodes to incentivize office attendance. While a 17.6 percent vacancy figure in Midtown in the second quarter remains 490 basis points ahead of the year-end 2019 equivalent, more than 7.1 million square feet was absorbed on a net basis during the 12-month period ended in June, the highest total since at least 2007.