Jones Lang LaSalle


Midtown office rents continued rise in January
by Julie Satow
February 08, 2006

The average asking rent in Midtown neared $60 a square foot in January, according to a report by Colliers ABR released Wednesday.

The average asking rent in Midtown neared $60 a square foot in January, according to a report by Colliers ABR released Wednesday.

The average asking rent in midtown for class A office space was $59.78 in January, up $0.14 from December. The rise coincides with a plummeting vacancy rate of 6.9% -- the lowest level since June 2001.

Asking rents downtown also saw a steep climb, boosted by the addition of 7 World Trade Center, the first office tower to be completed at Ground Zero. With asking rents at 7 WTC of around $50 a square foot, overall asking rents downtown rose to $39.62 a square foot, up 17.3% jump over December’s average.

The 1.6 million square feet of available space at 7 WTC boosted downtown vacancy rates to 12.3%, from 9.2% a month earlier. Despite the added availability of space from 7 WTC, net absorption in Manhattan was positive by just over 1 million square feet.
"Looking ahead, there is very little new construction that will be completed within the next year, thus if the economy keeps steaming along, the vacancy rate will quickly diminish… while rents climb ever higher," said Robert Sammons, the head of research at Colliers ABR and the author of the report.