Breaking! Manhattan Office Market 'Hot!'

“The real estate market in New York these days is like the weather,” Cushman & Wakefield’s Joe Harbert said this morning. “Hot!”

The chief operating officer for the New York region certainly had the statistics to back up that statement when the firm released its midyear report for the Manhattan commercial real estate market this morning.

According to the report, the vacancy rate in downtown Manhattan has dropped over the last year from 11.2 percent to 6.7 percent. In midtown south, the vacancy rate is at 3.5 percent, the lowest anywhere in the country right now, said Mr. Harbert. (Of course, there's that CBRE report that said Charlotte's is actually lower at 3.1 percent.)

The most jaw-dropping news came toward the end of the presentation, though, when Mr. Harbert started talking about investment sales. In 2006, the Manhattan sales market ended the year with a record-breaking $34.7 billion in sales.

It looks like 2007 may shatter that record, though. According to the report, the market has already recorded $34.1 billion in sales in 2007.

When asked if the record would be broken this year, Mr. Harbert smiled.

“I think there is a good chance.”