Manhattan Office Vacancy Rate Hits Record High as Leasing Still Struggles
Manhattan’s office leasing activity in the first quarter of 2023 was still slow, continuing a trend set in the last three months of 2022, and the borough’s vacancy rate hit a record high, according to reports.
Only 4.6 million square feet of office was leased in the first quarter of 2023 and Manhattan ended the quarter with a vacancy rate of 16.1 percent across the 470 million square feet tracked by JLL (JLL), according to the brokerage. That’s after Colliers found a 43 percent decline in leasing in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2021.
And Class A trophy properties — which have thrived during this rough leasing market — have started to see some distress.