Manhattan Office Building Average Visitation Rate Falls to 65% for November

NEW YORK, NY –The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) today released an analysis of November 2023 Placer.ai location data in 350 Manhattan office buildings. This report continues REBNY’s efforts to provide policymakers, financial markets and REBNY members as much data as possible on the state of New York City’s office market, which is of critical importance for the city’s tax revenues and broader economy. 

The full report can be downloaded here.

According to the report, Manhattan office buildings in November had an average visitation rate of 65% of pre-pandemic levels. This is five basis points below the rate seen in October, which was the highest recorded since the onset of the pandemic.

November’s results were largely driven by a significant decline in visitations during the week of Thanksgiving, which posted a 52% average. Excluding this week, November’s average visitation rate would have been 70%, in line with October’s results. November’s 65% average visitation rate is still seven basis points higher than November 2022.

The highest quality Class A+ properties had an average visitation rate of 72% for November. Class A/A- and B/C properties recorded averages of 62% and 64%. When looking at location, average visitation rates in Midtown South fell to 68% and Midtown to 66%. Downtown continues to lag, with visitations topping out at 55% in November.

“Aside from a significant decline during the week of Thanksgiving, visitation rates in November generally kept pace with the previous month,” said Keith DeCoster, Director of Market Data and Policy at the Real Estate Board of New York. “We also saw the continuation of several notable trends, as Class A+ buildings still outperform other classes and Midtown still outperforms Downtown by a sizable margin.”

The buildings analyzed in this report represent a diverse sample of various types of office buildings. Buildings that were not completed by 2019 are not factored in this report or 2023 average visitation rates.

The report analyzes all mobile data from geo-fenced buildings, including multiple phones carried by individual visitors. This has no impact on building visitation rates, as the same possibility of individuals carrying multiple phones exists in 2023 and the 2019 baseline.

Findings in this report include visitations collected from the mobile data of office tenants, but also office visitors and retail customers and employees within the buildings. This offers data and tracks progress of the broader economic impacts of these buildings for the local economy.

For more information about REBNY research reports, visit go.rebny.com/Reports. 

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