NEW YORK CITY-After Manhattan hotel sales reached a record $3.8 billion in total volume in 2011, New York hotel trades are expected to stay strong despite a slight slowdown predicted, new research from CBRE Hotels shows.

“We actually anticipate that there will be $2 billion or $2.5 billion of trades in 2012, which is still on the high end,” Bradley Burwell, senior associate at CBRE Hotels, tells GlobeSt.com. “On average, it is in the same realm as 2007 or 2008 levels were. You saw no transactions or very few in 2009 and there was about $1.5 billion in 2010 and then obviously this tremendous volume last year.”

Throughout 2011, more than 4,100 rooms were added across Manhattan, but the city’s occupancy rate held steady at 84%, which Burwell says is a sign that the city can continue to absorb new supply—and it will stay that way.