M
anhattan's office market showed resilience last month as more people returned to work, leading to increased leasing activity. Despite a decrease in monthly leasing volume by nearly a third from July to August, year-over-year figures showed a 3.5% increase, according to a recent report by Colliers. The year-to-date leasing activity reached almost 21 million square feet in August, indicating a positive trend towards recovery. If this pace continues, Manhattan is on track to surpass 30 million square feet in volume for the first time since 2019.

    Meanwhile, the number of visitors to Midtown office buildings is nearing pre-pandemic levels, according to REBNY's analysis of Placer.ai cell phone data in 350 Manhattan office buildings for July. The last three weeks of July saw an average visitation rate of 78%, up from June's post-pandemic record. July's overall visitation rate was up six percentage points year-over-year, reaching 71% of 2019 levels.

    Newly constructed or renovated properties and some Class B buildings with good access to transit continued to outperform, according to REBNY's vice president of research, Keith DeCoster. Despite a drop in Midtown leasing activity from 3 million to 1.4 million square feet month-over-month in August, this was partly due to Blackstone's massive 1 million-square-foot lease expansion and extension at 345 Park Avenue in July.

    In August, Christie's inked the largest lease deal, a 373,000-square-foot renewal at Tishman Speyer's 20 Rockefeller Plaza. Midtown accounted for four of the five largest lease deals last month and is on track for its strongest year since 2018.