The past quarter’s volume of approximately $10.8 billion also eclipsed the most recently quarterly high of $10.6 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
The total commercial property sales volume nearly doubled from $5.8 billion in the third quarter to $10.8 billion in the fourth quarter.
As Daun Paris, president of Eastern Consolidated explained: We closed one of our best quarters in more than four years. We found that both buyers and sellers were eager to make the deal and have it close by year-end.
The big story for Manhattan real estate: retail has more than $2.1 billion of properties traded, a growth rate of an extraordinary 640%.
The largest transaction was for the retail portion of 666 Fifth Avenue that traded for $707.8 million or more than $6,000 per square foot.
Vorndao Realty Trust (VNO) purchased the condominium property from a group that included The Carlyle Group, Crown Acquisitions and Kushner Companies.
Vornado, with deep experience in Manhattan-based investments has a market cap of $15.8 billion with significant exposure in New Jersey (43.7%), New York (17.09%), and Pennsylvania (15.36%).
Other notable retail transactions during the fourth quarter include the retail portion of both the Plaza hotel and St. Regis hotel. The buyer for St. Regis was a high-end European retailer Richemont N.A. that paid more than $12,000 per square foot.
Manhattan multifamily transactions more than doubled in the fourth quarter as volumes increased from $1.6 billion in the third quarter to around $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter—the highest quarterly volume since the second quarter of 2007.
As explained in Eastern Consolidated’s quarterly sales report:
One of the most active investors in the quarter was TIAA-CREF, which bought a 70% stake in the residential potion of the MiMA at 460 West 42nd Street. TIAA-CREF purchased the interest from Related Companies for $551.2 million. It also bought a 49% interest in the residential portion of New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street for $514.5 million. Forest City Ratner, the original developer, was the seller on that sale.
The Manhattan office market did not see significant growth in sales volumes; however, transactions have been steady with around $2.8 billion reported in the fourth quarter.
According to Eastern Consolidated, the largest transaction was the sale of a partial interest in 1411 Broadway. Ivanhoe Cambridge bought the interest from the Blackstone Group.
Also New York Life acquired 575 Lexington Avenue from Silverstein Properties for $360 million.
In the January 17 issue of The New York Times, Matt Van Buren, president of the New York tristate region of CBRE Group (CBG) explained the strength of the Manhattan submarkets: The Midtown South market is obviously coming off of a very strong 2012. It has the lowest space availability in the city of the three submarkets (Midtown, Midtown South, and Downtown), and that availability in anticipated to go even lower.
The Manhattan hotel sector has also seen strong growth in the latest quarter as volumes doubled in the quarter from $380 million in the third quarter to $665 million in the fourth.
The largest of five reported transactions was the sale of the Manhattan Times Square Hotel. Rockport Group and Goldman Sachs purchased the hotel from Starwood for $275 million or just under $600 per square foot ($413,530 per room).
Also in the fourth quarter, the Plaza hotel’s condominium sale occurred as part of a multi-condo sale that also included the retail portion of the Plaza (referenced above).
Manhattan commercial real estate is looking good and the prospects for 2013 look even better. As reported in The New York Times (January 17, 2013):
Although most major real estate companies in New York City were satisfied overall with 2012 results, there was general agreement that 2013 should be better as job growth and office space demand picks up—with the caveat that Washington needs t to agree on a plan to move the country forward. On the investment side, there was a sense that with many economies around the world unstable, New York continued to be the “gold standard” for investment in real estate—be it office buildings, multifamily rental buildings or even high-end condos.
As Jeffrey Gural, chairman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, explains (in The New York Times):
We are all benefiting from these historically low interest rates today. From a cash-flow perspective, I think most landlords are in pretty good shape, especially landlords that owned buildings for a long time and were able to refinance them.
In addition to Vorndao Realty Trust, investors can find other value in concentrated NY area REITs by tapping into SL Green (SLG), a New York-based REIT with a market cap of around $7.25 billion. With a portfolio of around 34.8 million square feet (110 properties), SL Green has a majority of its portfolio in New York (92%), followed by Connecticut (6%), and New Jersey (2%).
SL Green has a well-balanced portfolio of tenants including Viacom (6.9% of portfolio), Credit Suisse (6% of portfolio), Polo Ralph Lauren (1.9% of portfolio), and the City of New York (1.2% of portfolio).
Boston Properties (BXP), with a market cap of around $16.3 billion, also owns several trophy office properties in Manhattan, including 767 Fifth Avenue (95.2% occupied), 599 Lexington Avenue (97.9% occupied), and 601 Lexington Avenue (98% occupied). Boston Properties has around 7.6 million square feet in the New York area that represents around 20% of the REIT’s entire portfolio.
By Brad Thomas
Taken from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bradthomas/2013/01/24/manhattan-real-estate-has-become-the-gold-standard
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