Frequently Asked Questions
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Commercial real estate is a broad category that includes a high variety of space types designed to meet the needs of various industries of the local economy and their specialized subsectors, as presented in our real estate 101 guide to types of commercial real estate. However, there are three main categories that you are most likely to come across: office, retail, and industrial space.
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Modern office space is typically organized over large floor plates bound by high ceilings and large windows for an abundance of natural light and is located in transit-oriented developments with good access to multiple modes of transportation, so as to facilitate employee commute. The New York City commercial real estate market incorporates 500,282,912 square feet of office space across 2,079 buildings.
Office buildings can also accommodate coworking spaces, which are shared office options that typically cater to the needs of small, startup businesses that require flexible workspaces, a concentration of amenities, and services that can be accessed on an occasional or short-term basis. In New York City, the coworking segment of the commercial real estate market incorporates about 57,945 square feet.
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Retail space includes shopping malls, department stores, street retail, or specialty stores dedicated to a narrow range of products. Such properties are typically located in high foot-traffic and/or car traffic areas, to facilitate customer access. The New York City commercial real estate market includes 62,083,709 square feet of retail space in a variety of settings.
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Industrial property most often serves businesses operating in manufacturing or logistics and generally consists of large open spaces located within good access to roads, railways, freight airports or regional water ports. Industrial space listings can include warehouses, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, flexible industrial space, or even data center facilities. Across the New York City market, there is a total of 38,490,480 square feet of industrial property.
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The listing inventory in New York City incorporates commercial real estate for lease and for sale of almost all property types and subtypes. However, you’ll find some categories offer more rental or investment opportunities than others.
The largest share of commercial real estate space for lease in New York City is represented by Office space, which accounts for 78,065,457 square feet of available listings. Industrial space available in New York City adds up to 13,657,044 square feet.
Meanwhile, most of the listings of commercial property for sale in New York City are in the Industrial category.
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The price of renting or buying commercial real estate is influenced by a variety of factors, including: the property type (for example, office space is priced higher than other property types in most locations); the condition and asset class rating (property rated class A or above will typically command a higher price than lower grade classifications); the quality or the development potential of the property location; whether or not there is high demand for the type of commercial asset in question; and what the state of supply is relative to demand.
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The average rent for commercial real estate space listed for lease in New York City is $49.41 per square foot. However, this value does not offer enough perspective on its own, as you will find significant variation in prices across property types, property classes, and location, as well as other impacting factors. For instance, rent per square foot of office space in New York City can vary greatly depending on the rating of the property from Class A to Class C, as well as across the city depending on the location of the asset.
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Whether you are looking for commercial real estate for lease or commercial property for sale, the best choice of location depends on the factors that are most relevant to your business strategy. A good thing to look for at the start, however, is the areas of the city that have the highest concentration of your preferred type of property, as these areas are generally well connected to the amenities and points of interest that are most relevant to each property type.
As such, there are several areas that you could consider to be the best location for commercial real estate in New York City, depending on the property type you are interested in. The highest concentration of commercial space listings of any kind in New York City is in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood. But if we look at each commercial property type, we find that for office space, the best location is the Midtown Manhattan area.
Meanwhile, retail space opportunities are most abundant in the Midtown Manhattan submarket. Alternatively, if you are looking for warehouse or other industrial space, consider looking at listings in Southwestern Brooklyn.
Select your preferred property type from the search filters menu at the top of the search page and then navigate the interactive map for a better view of commercial real estate availability in the locations most suited to your needs.
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Regardless of whether buying or leasing commercial space is a new experience for you, there are significant benefits to working with a commercial real estate broker. In addition to saving you time and money, an experienced broker will contribute specialist knowledge of the local market, the property type you need representation for, and will handle negotiations on your behalf in your best interest.
To start, it is important for you to have a good understanding of what kind of broker you need. For instance, there are differences between a tenant broker and a listing broker. Also important at the start is to have a clear idea of what kind of space (or tenant) you are looking for and what (if any) particular needs and requirements you might have. And, while it is good to get a referral, you should interview several brokers to better gauge who you feel would best represent your interests.
CommercialCafe hosts listings from some of the most trusted commercial real estate brokerages in the country. Use the contact form available on each listing page or the contact details for the property representatives to reach out and start your search!
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The profitability of a commercial real estate investment depends on a multitude of factors working together. These factors include the quality of the asset itself — which itself includes aspects such as location, property class, amenities, and the quality of the property management — to the local market conditions, the state of the local economy, the demand for that particular type of commercial property, and of course the costs of owning and maintaining it relative to what leasing rate or sale price you get from the property. Asking rents in the city went as high as $505 per square foot. In particular, the property type commanding the highest lease rates in New York City was Retail space.
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The average size of a commercial property in New York City depends greatly on the property type and the location — geographical possibilities and zoning allowances have significant influence on how big developers can build. While there are outliers that break height or volume records in the city, we can look at some average sizes by property use:
- In New York City, the average size of an office property is 279,957 square feet.
Retail properties here incorporate an average of 29,949 square feet. - Industrial space in New York City is in buildings that are, on average 65,018 square feet in size.
New York City, NY Commercial Real Estate Market Overview
As one of the prime commercial real estate markets on a global level, New York City boasts an extensive inventory of office, retail, and multifamily space with quality tenants and consistent demand. Comprising the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island, commercial real estate in the New York City metro has some of the most robust demand and varied supply at a national level.
Traditionally, financial services represented the backbone of the New York City commercial industry. However, the tech boom encouraged tenants such as Facebook, Amazon, Google and Sony to open corporate campuses and distribution centers in the city, adding further value to the market. And, with other strong industries — including international trade, tourism, health care and manufacturing — on top of tech and finance, New York City’s commercial real estate market is sure to maintain its high status.
