Gulp! CBRE's Manhattan Stats Show More Vacancy, Lower Rents

CB Richard Ellis has released its Manhattan Snapshot with November's office numbers, and you know what that means! More doom and gloom. In short, Manhattan's commercial districts saw vacancy and availability rates increase overall to 6.9 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, leasing activity and rents both decreased. Here are some of the highlights--though keep in mind that stats tend to lag behind reality:

• In Midtown Manhattan, 0.73 million square feet were leased in November, down from 0.78 million in November 2007. The absorption rate jumped from 0.86 million in Nov. '07 to 3.26 million this year, the vacancy rate jumped from 4.1 to 6.6 percent, and the average asking rent (for what that's worth) fell more than a dollar to $80.87 a square foot.

• Midtown South saw leasing activity dry up, dropping from 0.69 million square feet in November '07 to a meager 0.13 million this November. The vacancy rate jumped from 5.4 to 7 percent. Asking rents were still slightly up over last year at $52.46 a square foot, but down from October's $52.77.

• Downtown saw leasing activity fall from 0.45 million in November '07 to 0.14 million this November, and the vacancy rate jump from 5.3 percent to 7.4 percent. Similar to Midtown South, asking rents were still higher than the same time last year, but down from the October rate, averaging in at $49.19 a square foot.