NEW YORK CITY-The city’s three major submarkets have seen steady leasing activity year-to-date, but it’s becoming unlikely that 2012 will surpass last year’s numbers in terms of total square footage leased, brokers from Colliers International explained at a third quarter press briefing on Thursday afternoon.

While the quarter showcased stable leasing volume, steady overall availability rates and increased asking rents, Manhattan overall has seen 18.4 square feet of leasing year-to-date, needing roughly nine million square feet of new deals to meet 2011’s total of 27.9 million, said Joe Harbert, president of the Eastern region at Colliers. And his staff agreed.

“Do any of my brokers in room think we are going to get to nine million by the fourth quarter?” he asked, and the majority of the brokers in the room shook their heads ‘no,’ a sign that Q4 will wrap up quietly. Harbert originally predicted earlier in the year that Manhattan would see between 23 to 24 million square feet of leasing activity by the end of 2012.