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significant shift in the Manhattan leasing market may be underway, thanks to a major new lease from WeWork on behalf of Amazon. The co-working firm has secured a 304,000-square-foot space at Vornado's 330 West 34th Street, according to a recent Colliers report. This deal helped push office leasing volume past 30.4 million square feet in November, surpassing the 30 million square foot mark for the first time since 2019.

    "This milestone has been eagerly anticipated by the market," said Franklin Wallach of Colliers. Typically, annual leasing activity was around 30 million square feet before the pandemic. WeWork confirmed the lease, stating that it is working with Amazon to support its real estate strategy. The space will feature cutting-edge amenities designed to boost productivity and collaboration.

    Several other large leases contributed to a significant increase in November's leasing activity, including Ropes & Gray's 430,000-square-foot lease at Scott Rechler's firm and Apple's expansion at Vornado Realty Trust's Penn 11. If demand continues at this pace, Manhattan and Midtown South may experience their strongest year of leasing volume since 2019.

    Availability rates have tightened to 16.7 percent, the lowest since September 2022. The sublet supply in Manhattan has decreased to 18.3 million square feet, its lowest level since January 2022. Office-to-residential conversions continue to impact availability, particularly downtown, where Newmark recently filed permits for a conversion at 2 Wall Street that will remove nearly 100,000 square feet of office space from the market.

    "The downtown market's availability has been tightening significantly over the past year, yet demand hasn't fully recovered," said Wallach. "Conversions are playing a significant role in this trend."