The RPG Office Condominium Report
Market Overview
The Manhattan office condominium market comprises 96 buildings totaling approximately 10.7 million square feet. Midtown accounts for 5.8 million sqft, Midtown South 2.8 million sqft, and Downtown 2.1 million sqft. By class, Class A represents 3.8 million sqft, Class B 4.6 million sqft, and Class C 2.3 million sqft.
In H1 2016, 113,147 square feet traded across 15 sales in 14 buildings for a total of $93,205,380, at an average price of $824 per square foot and an average unit size of 7,543 sqft. Square footage decreased to its lowest level in five years, down from 148,696 sqft in H2 2015 and considerably lower than the 5-year average of 222,585 sqft. Dollar value of $93,205,380 was 14% less than H2 2015 ($108,096,571), with the 5-year average half value at $135,178,865. The average price of $824/sqft was 13% higher than $727 in H2 2015 and significantly above the 5-year average of $607. The 15 sales were 13 fewer than H2 2015 and 21 fewer than the 5-year average.
By submarket: Midtown had 7 sales totaling 62,172 sqft for $52,508,265 at $845/sqft average. Midtown South had 5 sales totaling 36,257 sqft for $28,404,115 at $783/sqft. Downtown had 3 sales totaling 14,718 sqft for $12,293,000 at $835/sqft.
In the first half of 2016, there were 114,255 square feet of office condominium sales in Manhattan totaling $93,817,292. There were 15 office condominium sales, averaging 7,617 square feet per sale, at an average of $821 per square foot.
Market Overview (continued)
Square Footage of Sales: The 114,255 square feet sold in the first half of 2016 is 15% lower than the 134,098 square feet sold in the second half of 2015 and 50% lower than the five-year average of 230,586 square feet sold. Out of the 15 sales, the smallest sale was 418 square feet and the largest sale was 22,566 square feet.
Dollar Value of Sales: In the first half of 2016, office condominium sales totaled $93,817,292 which is 3% less than the $96,478,021 in sales for the second half of 2015. The dollar value of sales is 32% less than the five-year average of $138,751,328.
Average Price Per Square Foot: In the first half of 2016, the average price per square foot was $821. This is 14% higher than the second half of 2015 average of $719 per square foot and 36% higher than the five-year average of $602 per square foot.
Number of Sales: There were 15 sales in the first half of 2016, down 10 sales from the second half of 2015. The number of office condominiums sold in the first half of 2016 was 22 less than the five-year average of 37 sales.
Submarket Statistics
The Midtown submarket: In the first half of 2016, there were 6 sales totaling 55,357 square feet. The dollar value of these sales totaled $47,720,177, averaging $862 per square foot.
The Midtown South submarket: In the first half of 2016, there were 7 sales totaling 57,380 square feet. The dollar value of these sales totaled $44,604,115, averaging $777 per square foot.
The Downtown submarket: In the first half of 2016, there were 2 sales totaling 1,518 square feet. The dollar value of these sales totaled $1,493,000, averaging $984 per square foot.
Notable Office Condominium Sales
Size of the Office Condominium Market
By Rudder Property Group
Despite representing only approximately 2% of New York City's roughly 500 million square foot office market, Manhattan's 10.5 million square foot office condominium market is remarkably large — exceeding the entire downtown office markets of many major American cities.
A comparison of downtown office market sizes illustrates this point:
• NYC Office Condominiums: 10.5 million sqft • Downtown San Diego: 10.2 million sqft • Downtown Hartford: 10.1 million sqft • Downtown Stamford: 9.8 million sqft • Downtown Austin: 9.3 million sqft • Downtown San Jose: 8.4 million sqft • Downtown Honolulu: 7.2 million sqft • Downtown Salt Lake City: 6.9 million sqft • Downtown Tampa: 6.8 million sqft • Downtown Omaha: 6.5 million sqft
This comparison underscores the significance of the Manhattan office condominium market. While it may be a niche segment within New York City's vast commercial real estate landscape, it stands as a substantial market in its own right — larger than the core office districts of numerous prominent American cities.
Rudder Property Group
Rudder Property Group is a commercial real estate services firm that specializes exclusively in the sale of office condominiums in the New York metropolitan area. With 20 years of experience in this niche market, Rudder Property Group has sold over two million square feet of office condominiums with a dollar value in excess of $1 billion. In the small, highly specialized field of office condominium sales, Rudder Property Group is the market leader.
©2016 Rudder Property Group. All rights reserved. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. While this information is believed to be accurate, it is represented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice. All square footages are approximate and based on rentable square footages with standard Manhattan loss factors. For the purposes of this report, the definition of an office condominium is a building with more than two unit owners that has been constructed or converted to a condominium or cooperative for commercial use only. This report only includes properties in Manhattan below 96th Street.
