Real Estate Market Research: What an Analyst Reports and What a Broker Knows
Real estate market research for an office tenant comes from two roles. A research analyst gathers availability, rents, absorption and leasing by submarket and publishes them each quarter. A broker knows what a report cannot print: comps at your size, effective rents from signed deals and the state of a specific building. A tenant can read the first alone and needs the second before making an offer. Nomad provides both: the quarterly Manhattan Office Report, with its sources and method stated, and the brokers who apply it on your search. On your search, we work for you.
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Have a broker read my marketUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
What a research analyst produces
An analyst's job is measurement. Each quarter the analyst collects availability, asking rents, net absorption and leasing volume, sorts them by submarket and publishes the result with commentary. The output tells you which way the market is moving and where space is plentiful or scarce. It is the right starting point for anyone who has not leased in a few years.
Where any report stops
Four limits apply to every market report, including ours.
- It is aggregated. A submarket figure blends towers with lofts and large floors with small ones.
- It is a quarter behind. The data ends before the report is published.
- It is led by the largest deals, which say little about a floor for 20 or 40 people.
- It only approximates concessions. Free rent and allowances on individual deals are not in it.
What a broker adds from the deal book
- Comps at your size: leases signed recently for floors like the one you want.
- Effective rents: what those tenants pay after free rent and the allowance.
- Knowledge of a building: who owns it, how it is run, how long a floor has been empty.
None of that is published, and all of it changes what you should offer. It is the reason a tenant who has done the reading still brings in a broker before the letter of intent.
What Nomad provides, and in what order
First, the research. The Manhattan Office Report is published each quarter; the Q2 2026 edition is by Nicholas Hein, Director, and it states its sources and its method, including where figures from different desks disagree.
Second, the application. The brokers on your search take the report's readings for your submarkets, add comps at your size from our deal records, and put each offer on net effective rent. Our brokerage page sets out the full service. What happens next is a shortlist and tours.
A reading exercise: Bryant Park
Try the two sources against each other. For Bryant Park, the Q2 2026 edition says prime Class A space runs about $85 to $100 a foot and older stock $70 to $80, with one trophy asking rent far above both. That is the analyst's view: tiers, across a submarket, at a date.
The block below is the broker's view of that neighborhood: the Bryant Park floors on our book, with what each asks now. Set them against the report's tiers, and you have done what market research is for.
Bryant Park office space available now
Live from our listings · cheapest first4 offices are available in Bryant Park right now, from 4,109 to 17,296 square feet, asking $65 to $125 per square foot per year. The Bryant Park median is $95.50.
- Floors
- 4
- Sizes
- 4,109-17,296 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $65-$125 / sq ft
- Median
- $95.50 / sq ft
- 1450 Broadway, Entire 4th Floor 17,296 sq ft $65/sq ft about 99 people
- 1450 Broadway, Entire 40th Floor 4,109 sq ft $95/sq ft about 23 people
- 5 Bryant Park, Entire 33rd Floor 7,500 sq ft $96/sq ft about 43 people
- 500 Fifth Avenue, Entire 55th Floor 6,928 sq ft $125/sq ft about 40 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Real Estate Market Research for Startups: Do You Need a Research Company?
- Commercial Real Estate Market Research for Office Tenants: What to Read, What It Means
- Comparative Market Analysis for an Office Lease: Building a Comp Set and Using It
- Data-Driven Real Estate Analytics for a Startup Lease: The Few Numbers That Decide It
Do we need to hire a research analyst before leasing an office?
No. Published reports cover what an analyst would tell a tenant of ordinary size, and a broker's market survey is part of the search. A dedicated analyst suits a company managing many offices, not one taking a single floor.
What can a tenant research alone?
The public half: availability and asking rents by submarket from a quarterly report, and specific floors with their sizes and asking rents from listings. That is enough to choose neighborhoods and set a budget. It is not enough to price an offer.
Who writes Nomad's market report?
The Q2 2026 edition is by Nicholas Hein, Director. The report describes its sources, explains its method and marks anything that is reported and not yet confirmed.
Does Nomad's research serve building owners as well?
Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation, so its market knowledge is used on that work too. On your search, we work for you. Ask any firm, this one included, whether it leases a building on your shortlist for the owner.
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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