Manhattan office leasing declined in August by 68.2% from July and 30.8% year-over-year, Colliers International reported. However, somewhat offsetting the monthly and annual drop-offs in leasing velocity for Midtown and Midtown South, was a 35.4% Y-O-Y increase in Downtown volume.

Absorption across Manhattan was negative 760,000 square feet, the highest rate of negative absorption since January, Colliers reported. Again, though, Downtown saw positive absorption of 260,000 square feet and its availability rate tightened, in contrast to Midtown and Midtown South. That was the case even as Downtown’s leasing volume decreased by 55.8% from July.

What rose across the board were asking rents, which reached a new record of $80.04-per-square-foot in August across Manhattan. Midtown South’s $81.09-per-square-foot was a new record for the submarket, while Midtown’s average of $87.41-per-square-foot was the highest since just before the 2008 financial crisis.

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