New York City Market Analysis for Office Leasing: A Tenant's Method, Run in a Week

A New York City market analysis for office leasing is a tenant's estimate of what space like theirs should cost and how much room there is to negotiate. It rests on three readings: availability, not vacancy; effective rent, not asking rent; and net absorption. A tenant can run most of it in a working week: write the requirement, pull asking rents and availability by neighborhood, gather a handful of comparable signed leases, put each candidate floor on one basis, and note the leverage. The comps are the one part that usually needs a broker's records.

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Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

Three readings, and how a tenant should take each

Availability and vacancy. Vacancy counts only empty space. Availability adds space that is on the market while someone still occupies it: a sublease, or a floor whose occupant is moving out. A tenant chooses from what is available, so that is the reading to follow.
Asking rent and effective rent. The asking rent is what the landlord quotes. The effective rent averages free months and the buildout allowance over the whole lease, and two offers can only be compared on it.
Net absorption. How much the occupied total rose or fell in a period. A positive figure says tenants took more than they handed back. As an example of how it reads, our Q2 2026 report shows 4.4 million square feet for the year to date.

The working week, day by day

Monday, the requirement. Headcount now and 12 to 18 months out, multiplied by 175 square feet a person, with a move-in date and a monthly budget beside it.
Tuesday, the ranges. Asking rents for each neighborhood you would consider, from our rent table, beside the availability reading for that submarket.
Wednesday, the comps. Signed leases that resemble yours. This is the day to call a broker, for the reason given in the next section.
Thursday, one basis. Every candidate floor converted to a monthly cost and a cost per person, with free rent, the allowance and escalations priced in.
Friday, the leverage. One page: your range, your strongest candidates, and what would move the landlord on each.

What a comp is, and how many a tenant needs

A comp, short for comparable, is a lease signed recently for space like the one you want: about the same size, a similar length of term, the same grade of building, in the same part of town. A handful that match closely tell you more than a long list that match loosely.

Asking rents do not qualify. They are where a negotiation opens, not where it closes. What a tenant needs is the effective rent on deals that were signed, and those figures seldom reach the public. Brokers see them in their own files, which is the practical reason tenants use one.

One report, read by a tenant and by an investor

An investor reads a market to value a building: its income, its occupancy and what it could sell for. A tenant reads those pages to price occupancy and leverage: what a floor of this size costs after concessions, how many real choices there are, and how long there is to decide. A guide built around what a building earns is the investor's version, and a tenant can set it aside.

What it costs, and what a 30-person requirement finds

A tenant does not normally buy this analysis. A broker's market survey comes with the search, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. How to negotiate an office lease shows where the finished analysis gets used.

The block below takes Monday's requirement for a team of about 30 and shows what it finds: the floors in that size band, each with its size and what it asks.

Floors that fit a team of 30

Live from our listings · 6 of the 22, smallest first

A team of 30 plans on about 5,250 square feet at 175 a person. 22 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 5,250 to 9,450 square feet, asking $43 to $125 per square foot per year on the 21 with a published rent.

Floors: 22
Sizes: 5,250-9,000 sq ft
Asking rent: $43-$125 / sq ft

Every available floor, filterable by size →

The full guide

This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:

Can a tenant finish a market analysis in one week?

The public half, yes. The requirement, the asking rents and the availability readings take a few hours each. The comps are what stretch it, because effective rents on signed leases are rarely published. With a broker supplying those, a week is realistic.

Do we have to pay for a market survey before leasing?

Usually not. A broker's survey of the market is part of running the search, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. Ask any firm how it is paid on your deal before you start.

Is a market analysis for leasing the same as one for buying property?

No. A purchase analysis values a building as an asset. A leasing analysis prices the cost of occupying part of one, and it ends in a negotiating range for a letter of intent, not in a valuation.

Which reading tells a tenant the most about demand?

Leasing volume, read beside net absorption. Volume is the most direct reading: how much was signed in the period. Absorption shows whether the occupied total actually grew. When both are strong and availability is falling, expect landlords to hold firmer.

Talk to a broker

Want this answered for your team?

Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.

Within the houra broker reaches out during business hours, no automated triage
On your sidewe work for you on your search, and the landlord usually pays our fee
Open pricingasking rent published for 46 of 49 floors, size and address for all
300+ officesdelivered in New York, 2M+ sq ft leased

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