New York Office market sucks wind, the rest of tge economy to follow...

At least that is the opinion of a post on Zerohedge today. They also state that 666 Fifth is 50% vacant - is that right? I can't recall, but that seems high. Regardless, they do continue to lose tenants.

Colony Square and Midtown Plaza transferred to Special (LBUBS 2006-C7 - $181mm combined)

Both Tishman-owned Atlanta GA office loans were slated to mature this month. Colony Square has a 0.81x DSCR and Midtown Plaza has a 0.54x DSCR (NCF DSCRs as of 1Q 11).

h/t Fitch and Barclays

Midtown Class A rents at $63.24 psf

*BROKER STUDLEY INC. ISSUES PRELIMINARY NYC OFFICE NUMBERS
*MIDTOWN MANHATTAN CLASS-A RENTS AVERAGE $63.24 A SQUARE FOOT
*OFFICE RENTS IN MIDTOWN NYC END STEEP DECLINE, STUDLEY REPORTS
*MANHATTAN CLASS-A OFFICE RENTS LITTLE CHANGED IN Q2: STUDLEY

NYC Office Market Falters

Bloomberg Reports:

Downtown Manhattan, where demand for office space began to surge three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is about to lose its spot as the best- performing U.S. market.
Vacancies may exceed 14 percent of the area’s 87 million square feet by late 2011, empty space that’s equivalent to four Empire State Buildings and the highest rate since 1997

obviously this is all Goldman's fault - who else?

Goldman Sachs announced plans after 9/11 to move equity trading and research employees to Jersey City, New Jersey... and
...Goldman Sachs’s move to 200 West St. The company will leave behind about 2 million square feet at downtown buildings including 85 Broad St. and 1 New York Plaza.

Chicago Office Vacancy @ 4-Year peak

From Crain's

The noteworthy office spaces that came on the market include:

• 161,000 square feet at 540 W. Madison St., according to a spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp., which owns the building. In late ’08, North Carolina-based BofA leased 125,000 square feet to DRW Trading LLC, the first outside tenant in the building.
• 80,000 square feet at 200 S. Wacker Drive formerly occupied by Boston Consulting Group, which moved to 300 N. LaSalle St., developed last year by Hines Interests L.P.
• 75,000 square feet at 350 N. Clark St., a terra cotta classic where Mesirow Financial was based until it moved to 353 N. Clark St., which the Chicago-based investment firm co-developed last year.

As the building boom winds down, the vacancy rate for Class A space in newer, top-quality office building rose to 14.4% during the first quarter, compared to 12.5% during the fourth quarter and 9.5% during the first quarter of 2009.

Thanks in part to the expansion of 300 E. Randolph, the vacancy rate in the East Loop is the highest in the city, at 17.8%, compared to 14.7% during the fourth quarter and 11.9% during the first quarter of 2009.

The vacancy rate in the West Loop shot up to 15.8% during the first quarter, compared to 14.9% during the fourth quarter and 12.1% during first-quarter 2009.

Vacancies are lowest in River North, where the rate rose to 11.4%, compared to 10.3% during the fourth quarter and 11.3% during the first quarter of 2009.

Effective Manhattan Office Rents off 45%

That stings a lot worse than the 22% drop reported by Cushman, earlier, but is adjusted for concessions. Crain's:

Despite an uptick in leasing activity in Manhattan during the third quarter, the office vacancy rate rose to 11.1%—the highest level in five years, according to the latest quarterly market report by Cushman & Wakefield. At the same time, net effective rents, the average amount paid by tenants after landlord concessions are factored in, hit levels that are 45% below their pre-recession peaks.

So far this year, Manhattan office leasing totaled 11.3 million square feet, down 27.8% from the same time last year. That represents the weakest leasing year in 13 years. Leasing for the entire year is expected to reach 15 million to 16 million square feet, said Joseph Harbert, chief operating officer of Cushman's New York metro region. That is far below the 25 million-square-foot level that typically defines a healthy market. Despite the dearth of deals, leasing activity during the third quarter rose to 4.9 million square feet, up 50% from the hugely depressed levels of the previous quarter.

Occupancy, Rents Continue downward - Apartments & Office

From Bloomberg:

Manhattan’s third-quarter office vacancy rate hit a five-year high as unemployment rose and companies cut space in the recession.

The rate rose to 11.1 percent, the highest since the third quarter of 2004, New York-based broker Cushman & Wakefield said in a statement today. Rents fell 5.2 percent from the second quarter to $57.08 a square foot and were down 22 percent from a year earlier.

see earlier post from Vornado regarding Manhattan's leasing market stabilization.

and From Reuters:

The U.S. apartment market in the third quarter turned in one of its weakest performances ever as the national vacancy rate hit a 23-year high despite being propped up by landlords willing to take lower rent to keep tenants, according to real estate research firm Reis Inc.

The U.S. apartment vacancy rate rose to 7.8 percent in the third quarter, its highest since 1986, according to the report released on Tuesday. Vacancies have been rising since the third quarter of 2007, according to Reis.