Lower Manhattan Real Estate Overview, Q2 2021

08/09/2021
Lower Manhattan Real Estate Overview, Q2 2021

The Alliance for Downtown New York’s second-quarter report provides data on commercial office, retail, residential, hospitality and development projects. Major findings include:

Location, Location, Location

Median rents in Lower Manhattan rose 24% over the past quarter to $3,722 in Lower Manhattan — returning to pre-pandemic levels. Listing discounts were notably absent during the second quarter, a notable shift from the previous quarter where the listing discount was nearly 6%. As many residents expected to be called back to the office, demand for residential units near office buildings soared.

Commercial Leasing Activity Continues On Upward Trajectory

The second quarter saw Lower Manhattan office leasing reach 519,000 sq. ft. — the highest quarterly total since the pandemic began, but still nearly 50% below the five-year quarterly average. Around one-quarter of employees have returned to their offices. Lower Manhattan’s largest office occupiers, the New York City government and Goldman Sachs began to return to work during the second quarter. A larger return to office is anticipated this fall, as various levels of government and major private sector employers began to mandate vaccinations and strongly encourage being back in the office. 

Retail Openings On Par With 2019 Levels

With promising vaccination rates, capacity restrictions were eliminated in mid-June. Over 40 retailers opened in the first half of the year, similar to the pace of openings in 2019. Another 50 retailers announced plans to open in the neighborhood.

Travel And Tourism Begin To Resume, But Hotels Continues Facing Headwinds

While occupancy and room rates began to recover in the spring, four Lower Manhattan hotels announced permanent closures.

Downtown Alliance COVID Recovery Dashboard And Resource Page

The Downtown Alliance created a homepage acting as an up-to-date clearinghouse for Lower Manhattan’s COVID recovery data, as well as highlighting our most prominent initiatives supporting local businesses. Our COVID recovery dashboard includes real estate market data across all sectors, as well as metrics related to transportation, population and pedestrian traffic in the district.