Manhattan Office Deals Pick Up Pace

Year-to-date through May, Manhattan has recorded $2.15 billion in office sales, according to CommercialEdge data. At that point, the New York City borough had the second largest investment volume across all U.S. markets.

Manhattan’s office market has suffered a serious setback during the pandemic, but investment volume has been up in the first five months of 2022: in the same period last year, office deals added up to merely $1.25 billion. At that point, the NYC market was fifth in investment volume list among U.S. markets.

While transactions in Manhattan have picked up pace this year, prices have gone down: year-to-date through May, the average price pre square foot hit $967 per square foot. By comparison, in the first five months of 2021, prices had averaged at $1,024 per square foot. Manhattan continues to be the priciest market nationwide, with San Francisco in second place at $931 per square foot and Seattle third, at $659 per square foot.

The largest office deal in May was the sale of 475 Fifth Ave., a 275,738-square-foot building located in the Murray Hill submarket. A joint venture of Nuveen Real Estate and Norges Bank Investment Management sold the 24-story building to RFR Realty for $291 million. JPMorgan Chase backed the buyer with a $180 million acquisition loan.

CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here.