Despite the average asking rent drops seen in other corridors in Fall 2016, robust price growth occurred Downtown in the Financial District on Broadway, between Battery Park and Chambers Street, a corridor that has benefitted from recent transportation and retail improvements.

Among other highlights of the report, the average asking rent in this corridor posted a 20% jump year-over-year, rising from $308 to $369 per square foot of ground floor retail space. According to the Manhattan retail report advisory group, retail spaces near Fulton Street have been the largest beneficiary of increased foot traffic from the World Trade Center complex and the openings of the Oculus and Fulton Center transit hub.

Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd Streets is one corridor experiencing a shift from the increased availability of ground floor retail spaces. As the corridor's inventory level rose in Fall 2016, the average asking rent decreased 11% to $1,433 per square foot from $1,613 in Fall 2015.

Midtown South's average asking rent in Herald Square on West 34th Street—between Fifth and Seventh Avenues—also fell 11% year-over-year from $836 to $745 per square foot of ground floor retail space.

The decline was caused by a combination of increased supply and supply being concentrated on the south side of the corridor. Spaces on the north side of West 34th Street typically offer wider street frontage, while spaces on the south side are usually smaller and more limited in frontage.

REBNY's Manhattan Retail Report compiles data about asking rents for available space provided by a broad cross-section of the city's retail brokers. The report is compiled twice per year, in the Spring and Fall, and analyzes the average, median, and range in asking rents for ground floor space in Manhattan's premier retail corridors.

Data for the Manhattan Retail Report was provided by REBNY brokers from the Commercial Brokerage Retail Committee and comprised of asking rent prices for their current, available ground floor retail listings.

NEW YORK CITY—The recent, slower retail sales environment here has had a softening effect on average asking rents, according to The Real Estate Board of New York's Fall 2016 Manhattan Retail Report. However, on the positive side, that rent decline has moved retailers off of the sidelines and into the market.

Average asking rents for available ground floor retail spaces decreased in 11 of the 17 corridors analyzed in this bi-annual report. Previously deterred by 2015's record asking rents, retailers are now coming back, with higher carrying costs for property owners also prodding deal-making.

“Our Manhattan Retail Report Advisory group is observing a pick-up in tenant interest as a result of Fall 2016's asking rent adjustments,” says John H. Banks, III, REBNY president. “This natural correction in the cty's market is spurring activity in the retail real estate sector.”

The group includes Robin Abrams, Lansco Corp.; Karen Bellantoni, RKF; Benjamin Fox, SCG Retail; Andrew Mandell; Ripco Real Estate Corp.; Andrew Goldberg, CBRE; David A. Green, Colliers International; Joanne Podell, Cushman & Wakefield; Fred Posniak, Empire State Realty Trust; Jeffrey Roseman, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank; Craig Slosberg, JLL and Alan Victor, The Lansco Corp.

Despite the average asking rent drops seen in other corridors in Fall 2016, robust price growth occurred Downtown in the Financial District on Broadway, between Battery Park and Chambers Street, a corridor that has benefitted from recent transportation and retail improvements.

Among other highlights of the report, the average asking rent in this corridor posted a 20% jump year-over-year, rising from $308 to $369 per square foot of ground floor retail space. According to the Manhattan retail report advisory group, retail spaces near Fulton Street have been the largest beneficiary of increased foot traffic from the World Trade Center complex and the openings of the Oculus and Fulton Center transit hub.

Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd Streets is one corridor experiencing a shift from the increased availability of ground floor retail spaces. As the corridor's inventory level rose in Fall 2016, the average asking rent decreased 11% to $1,433 per square foot from $1,613 in Fall 2015.

Midtown South's average asking rent in Herald Square on West 34th Street—between Fifth and Seventh Avenues—also fell 11% year-over-year from $836 to $745 per square foot of ground floor retail space.

The decline was caused by a combination of increased supply and supply being concentrated on the south side of the corridor. Spaces on the north side of West 34th Street typically offer wider street frontage, while spaces on the south side are usually smaller and more limited in frontage.

REBNY's Manhattan Retail Report compiles data about asking rents for available space provided by a broad cross-section of the city's retail brokers. The report is compiled twice per year, in the Spring and Fall, and analyzes the average, median, and range in asking rents for ground floor space in Manhattan's premier retail corridors.

Data for the Manhattan Retail Report was provided by REBNY brokers from the Commercial Brokerage Retail Committee and comprised of asking rent prices for their current, available ground floor retail listings.