NEW YORK CITY—After a long stretch of Manhattan's office story remaining unchanged—thanks to continued foreign investment and healthy leasing—industry leaders are starting to see some shifts.

But fear not: the news continues to be good and, judging by their comments at RealShare New York in Midtown late last week, they remain bullish on the market.

“It's a marketplace that's really in equilibrium,” declared Bruce Mosler, chairman of global brokerage, Cushman & Wakefield. “The market has never been healthier. It's robust, it's not just built around the TAMI or FIRE sectors. The landscape of the city is very institutional. I don't see people overpaying given our quality, there's room for upward rent mobility.”

Agreed Gerald Casimir, managing director, global real estate, asset management TIAA-CREF, “We're past the peak on pricing and we're approaching the peak on cap rates, which are around 4%. As appreciation flattens out, the next opportunity is rent growth and we see that on the horizon.”

On the leasing side, growth is coming from surprising pockets. “I've seen a lot of growth in small and mid-sized financial institutions, growing at a tremendous pace,” asserted Peter Turchin, vice chairman, CBRE. There isn't as much movement in larger banking firms but this is a far cry from when the FIRE sector was seen as a laggard. "We see a lot of breakouts and the smaller firms are filling up the buildings that did prebuilts.”

So now that we're out of the dark times, is there too much of a good thing? Not even close, the panelists said. “There's still room to run between cap rates and the 10-year treasury,” observed Isaac Zion, co-CIO, SL Green Realty Corp. “It's at about 2% and it's usually around 1.5%.

Further, added Arthur Mirante, principal and tri-state president, Avison Young, “The healthcare and social services sector is continuing to grow and we're retaining most of our industries in the city. The big banks may not be growing but they're not shrinking either.”

According to Mosler, “TAMI companies are growing and they want 24/7 live/work/play environments. New York has benefited from that and will continue to do so.” And he sees one area ready for that, and for growth in general. “Downtown is still an opportunity. The east side of the submarket is underperforming; we'll see that change soon.”