Research for companies signing in New York.
Market reports, deal economics and practical guides for growing companies leasing office space in New York. Written by Nomad brokers and research.
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Leasing & Economics
NYC Office Rent: Are Utilities and Maintenance Included?
What base rent usually covers, what tenants typically pay separately, and the costs to understand before comparing spaces.
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What your office rent actually includes
- Base rent
- Electricity
- Operating expenses
- Real estate tax escalations
- Overtime HVAC
- Total occupancy cost
Leasing & Economics
Why you want a broker on your side of the table
Who a tenant broker works for, how they are paid, what they handle from the first search to renewal, and how to choose one in New York.
Neighborhoods
Why tech companies keep landing on Unicorn Lane
How the stretch of Broadway around Madison Square Park became the center of New York’s tech leasing, what the corridor offers a growing company, and how to lease there when good space is scarce.
Latest report · July 2026
Manhattan Office Market Report, Q2 2026
Availability is falling, sublease supply has been cut by more than half and deals are closing closer to asking. Here is what that means for tenants negotiating now.
Source: Nomad Q2 2026 Manhattan Office Market Report. Hover a bar for detail.
Most useful
Start here if you’re planning a move.
The archive
Everything we’ve published, by topic.
What an Exclusive Leasing Agent Does for an Owner
Putting a listing online is not a leasing strategy. What an owner should expect from an exclusive agent, from positioning and pricing to broker outreach, negotiations and reporting.
Office Build-Out vs. Renovation: What NYC Tenants Need to Know
Take a space as it is, refresh it or rebuild it. What each path involves, how long it takes, who usually pays and where the budget risk sits.
Flatiron Office Guide
Loft buildings, strong transit and a dense mix of technology, design and consumer companies have made Flatiron one of Manhattan’s most durable office neighborhoods.
What to Decide Before You Start Touring NYC Offices
The best office searches start with a brief, not a tour. The decisions to make first, from headcount and hybrid attendance to budget, term and what you can live without.
Midtown West Office Guide
From Penn Plaza to Hudson Yards, Midtown West spans several very different office markets. Here’s how to think about buildings, transportation, pricing and workplace fit.
How to Compare Two NYC Office Deals
The lowest asking rent is not necessarily the cheapest lease. How to put two office proposals on the same basis, line by line, before you decide which one to negotiate.
Renew or Relocate? How to Approach Your NYC Office Renewal
A renewal is still a market transaction. How to decide whether to stay, what the landlord knows about your position, and how to test the renewal against real alternatives.
What You’re Signing When You Hire a Tenant Broker
A tenant representation agreement sets out who the broker works for, on what, for how long and how they are paid. What each part usually covers, and what to read closely.
How to Choose an NYC Office Broker
What to look for when a company hires someone to run its office search, the questions to ask, and how to think about compensation and conflicts.
Direct Lease vs. Sublease vs. Flex: Which Is Right for Your Team?
Three ways to occupy an office in New York, with very different trade-offs on commitment, speed, control and cost. How to decide which fits where your company is now.
The NYC Office Relocation Timeline: When to Start Your Search
How long an office move really takes depends less on the search than on the space you choose. A realistic sequence from the first brief to move-in, and what changes it.
How Tenant Improvement Allowances Work
A large TI allowance doesn’t automatically mean a cheaper build-out. Here’s what the number covers and what tenants should negotiate before signing.
The NYC Office Lease Terms Founders and Operators Should Know
A plain-English glossary of the terms you will meet in a New York office proposal and lease, grouped by what they affect, with notes on what to ask about each.
NYC Office Rent: Are Utilities and Maintenance Included?
What base rent usually covers, what tenants typically pay separately, and the costs to understand before comparing spaces.
How to Negotiate an NYC Office Lease
Asking rent is only one line in an office deal. Here’s how tenants should think about economics, build-out, security, flexibility and leverage before signing.
Your first real office after the raise
A new round usually means hiring, and hiring means a more permanent office. How to size it, where to look, who to bring in and what to protect in the lease.
What your broker should do after the lease is signed
Build-out, vendors, landlord issues, compliance, renewals and subleasing: the work that follows a signed New York lease, and where an advocate helps.
What a New York office lease costs before move-in
The cash a lease requires before your team walks in, from the security deposit and first month’s rent to build-out, and how to plan and negotiate for it.
The conversion boom is quietly shrinking Manhattan’s office supply
Office-to-residential conversion has gone from a downturn response to a structural shift, and it is now reaching Midtown. What a permanently smaller office stock means for tenants.
Q4 2025: the busiest quarter since 2019
Manhattan closed 2025 with 11.9 MSF leased in the fourth quarter, availability at its tightest in years and competing bids for the best space in SoHo, Unicorn Lane and Bryant Park South.
How to run a New York office search
The order that works, from writing the brief to moving in: how to size the space, where to look, what to budget, what to negotiate and how long each stage really takes.
How to judge a neighborhood’s safety and access before you sign
Five checks that tell you whether a neighborhood works for your team and clients: crime data, visits at different hours, transit, accessibility and the people who are already there.
How long should a startup’s NYC office lease be?
Typical startup lease terms in New York, what should set yours, and how to build flexibility into whichever length you choose.
How to plan an office build-out that stays on budget
The seven steps of a build-out, from defining what the space has to do to the final walk-through, and why the early ones decide the cost and the schedule.
When flexible space makes sense, and when it doesn’t
Coworking, serviced offices and executive suites trade a long lease for speed and one monthly bill. What each type offers, who it suits, how the cost compares with a traditional lease, and how to choose a space.
What a construction manager does for a startup build-out
When a startup builds out or renovates a New York office, someone has to own the plan, the contractors and the budget. What that role covers, and what to decide before it starts.
What facilities management takes off your plate
Once the lease is signed, someone has to run the office. What facilities management covers for a New York team, and the five ways it pays for itself.
Which NYC office amenities are worth paying for
What comes standard in Midtown, the Financial District, Brooklyn and Long Island City, which extras earn their cost, and how to negotiate them into the lease.
Eight neighborhoods to shortlist for a startup office
From Chelsea to Union Square: what each of eight Manhattan neighborhoods offers a startup, how they compare on cost and transit, and how to choose between them.
What makes an office worth the commute
With flexible work here to stay, an office has to earn the trip. What employees expect now, and the building qualities that deliver it: access, sustainability, flexibility and ownership that shows up.
How to plan for growth without leasing too much, or too little
Growing companies get office space wrong in two directions: too little, signed in a hurry, or too much, signed too early. How to size from real use, split the portfolio and keep the lease able to move.
In New York, the right space now beats more space
A prime address and the biggest floor used to be the measure of a company's standing. For growing companies today, the measure is what the space does for talent, culture and room to change.
Five emerging NYC markets, and who each one suits
Long Island City, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Sunset Park, the South Bronx and Downtown Brooklyn each serve a different kind of company. What each offers, and what to check before moving to one.
What to check in a Midtown South loft before you sign
Midtown South’s leasing surge runs through its older loft and prewar buildings. Why tech teams choose them, and what separates a building that works from one that only looks the part.
Q3 2025: more deals, even less space
Manhattan leased more office space in Q3 than in any quarter since late 2019, and availability kept shrinking. The biggest deals, what changed from Q2, and how SoHo, NoMad and Bryant Park South are pricing.
The case for several small leases instead of one big one
Micro-leasing swaps one large, long commitment for smaller units on short terms. How it works, what it really costs, and how to structure the switch.
Why the block now matters more than the borough
New York’s office market has split into micro markets with their own tenants, rents and cycles. What drives the split, where it shows, and how to use it in a location or lease decision.
What really decides an NYC office lease now
Address and square footage still matter, but a building’s technology, its amenities, the flexibility in the lease and the neighborhood around it now carry as much weight. What to ask about each.
Why experience now outweighs square footage
Manhattan tenants are choosing offices for what they do for a team, not just for their size. What that shift means, and how to test for it on a tour and in the lease.
The office you need at each stage, from 10 people to 500
Five stages of company growth, what each one needs from an office, and the lease right to secure at each step so the next move is already planned.
Why some of the best NYC office space is never listed
Why landlords lease some Manhattan space privately, what that inventory looks like, and how a tenant gets in front of it.
Why tech teams are choosing Flatiron over trophy towers
For a company of 50 to 200 people, a boutique Flatiron floor often beats a Midtown tower on fit, lease flexibility and infrastructure. How the two compare, and how to plan the move.
How a century-old loft on East 25th Street was reinvented
Republic Investment Company and Nomad repositioned 137 East 25th Street around open, whiteboxed floors. What changed, what the block is like, and how tenants get there.
Marketing shapes how a startup builds, not just how it sells
Nomad’s marketing director on why marketing belongs at the start: it tells you what customers want, gives the team a brand to rally around, and turns customers into a community.
How value-add owners turn older buildings into Class A
Not every upgrade is a new tower. Three repositionings around Union Square, Flatiron and NoMad show how owners buy older, well-located buildings, reinvest from lobby to rooftop, and reset the rents.
Pinterest takes a full floor at 11 Madison Avenue
An 11-year lease for roughly 83,000 square feet more than doubles Pinterest’s New York office, and shows how well repositioned prewar towers are competing for tech tenants.
What Luckin’s app-only stores say about Manhattan retail
China’s largest coffee chain opened its first U.S. stores in Greenwich Village and NoMad, with no registers, little seating and orders taken only through its app. Why the format fits high-rent Manhattan, and why NoMad.
Breaking out of the coworking fishbowl
The shared office gave growing companies flexibility. It struggles to give them an identity. Why that matters, what the newer all-inclusive offers really cost, and the model we built instead.
The new towers raising the bar for Manhattan offices
Four ground-up and rebuilt towers, 270 Park Avenue, 350 Park Avenue, 343 Madison Avenue and Penn 2, show what new construction now has to offer to compete: all-electric systems, built-in wellness and food, and direct transit connections.
Why tech companies keep landing on Unicorn Lane
How the stretch of Broadway around Madison Square Park became the center of New York’s tech leasing, what the corridor offers a growing company, and how to lease there when good space is scarce.
Grand Central: Midtown offices built around the commute
Regional rail, major subway lines and a building stock that runs from landmark towers to prewar lofts. How the Grand Central office market works, and two Nomad buildings a few steps from the terminal.
Madison Square: historic floors near the park
A park setting, a central address and a stock of historic loft and boutique buildings with layouts all their own. What the area around Madison Square Park is like, and a closer look at 137 East 25th Street.
Penn District: big floors a short walk from Penn Station
A district organized around the region’s commute, with large floor plates and buildings at every stage of modernization. What to expect, who it suits, and a look at 213 West 35th Street.
Herald Square: offices at the Midtown crossroads
Retail corridors, transit hubs and constant foot traffic. What it takes to make an office work in one of Manhattan’s densest districts, and a look at 862 Sixth Avenue on the edge of the square.
NoMad: prewar lofts north of Madison Square Park
Beaux-Arts and Romanesque facades, boutique hotels, design showrooms and a lively food scene. What NoMad is like as an office neighborhood, and four buildings Nomad offers there, from a sunny 139,951 SF office building to a 1909 terra-cotta landmark.
Union Square: landmark buildings on a major transit hub
A central, high-traffic neighborhood with 14th Street transit at its feet and buildings from prewar lofts to large towers. What Union Square is like to work in, and a look at 900 Broadway, the Goelet Building.
Q2 2025: leasing cools, availability hits a four-year low
Leasing stepped down from a record first quarter but stayed historically strong, while availability fell to its lowest level in over four years. The best space in SoHo, NoMad and Bryant Park South is going faster.
The flight to quality is now the baseline
Our read on Manhattan leasing in Q2 2025: volume rose, demand concentrated in quality space, and the tenants who moved decisively won.
Chelsea: loft buildings between the galleries and Midtown
Galleries, townhouses and converted industrial lofts, with the High Line close by and NoMad a short walk away. What Chelsea is like as an office address, and the buildings Nomad offers on its northern blocks.
Cheap space gets expensive when it costs you your team
How to judge an office as an investment rather than a line item: what it returns in productivity, talent and brand, and how to measure that return.
SoHo’s comeback still leaves tenants room to negotiate
Loft office leases, flagship retail and building sales drove SoHo’s recovery in the first half of 2025. Availability is still high enough for tenants to win concessions, but that window is narrowing.
Hudson Yards is back in deal-making mode
The submarket landed Manhattan’s largest new lease since 2019 in early 2025. What is driving trophy rents, what is left to build, and how to plan around a finite pipeline.
Your office is part of your talent strategy
The companies leading on growth and culture have stopped planning space around cost alone. They plan it around the people they need to hire and keep.
When to leave coworking for an office of your own
Coworking is the right call for a small team, until it isn't. How the per-person math flips as you hire, the signs you've outgrown shared space, and how to plan the move.
How to move offices without losing your team
A six-step playbook for relocating, from reading your current lease to the first quarter in the new space, with the team brought along at every stage.
Why customer trust beats a better quarter
Cutting customer value to hit a quarterly number looks like efficiency and works like a slow leak. A case for measuring, organizing and paying a company around the customer instead.
Offices are expensive. So is losing your culture.
Rent in New York is not cheap. A company whose energy has flattened pays more. Why the office still matters, and what the right space looks like now.
Why you want a broker on your side of the table
Who a tenant broker works for, how they are paid, what they handle from the first search to renewal, and how to choose one in New York.
Grand Central is tightening, and the discounts won’t last
As of mid-2025, availability around Grand Central is the tightest since 2019. Where pricing and concessions stand, and why a growing team should move sooner rather than later.
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