NEW YORK CITY-“The real story is in Midtown South and it has been for most of 2012,” says Pamela Murphy, CBRE’s senior vice president for research and consulting. “The market in Manhattan is preferred by many technology firms.” Murphy says the class B loft space available in Midtown South is attractive to tech firms. Also, price-sensitive start-up companies are finding space at lower costs than in Midtown. Pricing was the initial draw and then the cluster effect attracted more companies.

The top transactions in Midtown South are all tech firms. The list includes Medidata Solutions Worldwide with 98,585 square feet at 350 Hudson St., Google with a 94,237-foot expansion at 75 Ninth Ave., and IBM World Trade Corp., which took 54,045 square feet at 63 Madison Ave.

Murphy says leasing activity in Midtown has not been quite as strong because financial services companies have taken a cautious posture due to overall economic conditions.