HOMES SELLING IN 1 WEEK

The Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) reports seven days was the median number of days it took to sell an existing, single-family home in San Diego County in January 2021. According to the most recent statistics from the California Association of Realtors, the January 2021 seven-day timeframe compares to eight days in December 2020, seven days in November, October and September 2020, and 23 days in January 2020. Statewide, the median number of days to sell a home in California was 12 days in January 2021, compared to 11 days in December 2020 and 31 days in January 2020.

New York’s Financial District is suffering as a glut of office space builds with the pandemic keeping workers home.

JPMorgan Chase is the latest high-profile tenant to look for an exit from the neighborhood, a historic part of lower Manhattan that is home to the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Reserve.

S&P Global and Fitch Ratings are also marketing big blocks of offices, driving an 80 percent surge in the amount of sublease space available. That’s more than double the rate in Midtown, according to data from CoStar Group.

“The sublet spaces currently on offer at deeply discounted rates is a veritable flood of biblical proportions, with more likely to come online soon,” said Ruth Colp-Haber, chief executive officer of brokerage Wharton Property Advisors.

Manhattan’s office market has taken a big hit in the past year, with the pandemic emptying out skyscrapers and pushing cost-conscious companies to reconsider how much space they need after months of remote working.

In Midtown, where there’s been a 36 percent increase in sublease space, roughly 18 percent of office space is currently available, either because it’s empty or a company is trying to unload it.

There’s a similar amount space for rent in lower Manhattan. The area had been clawing its way back after being battered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the global financial crisis. In 2011, when the magazine publisher Conde Nast announced a move to the rebuilt World Trade Center from Times Square, it was a pivotal moment in the bid to draw companies downtown.

Now, the company is eyeing office space in New Jersey and elsewhere in Manhattan as it tries to renegotiate or exit its lease at One World Trade, where it has about a million square feet. Uber Technologies Inc. is also looking to shed space, at 3 World Trade Center, where it signed a lease. That’s pushed the amount of sublease space up 73 percent in lower Manhattan, which stretches north to Chambers Street.

The Durst Organization and Silverstein Properties, both landlords at the World Trade Center complex, argue their available space is more competitive because the towers are newer and higher quality than others in the area.

One World Trade is 90 percent leased and asking rents are at $75 a square foot with regular tenant improvement concessions and free rent, said Eric Engelhardt, senior managing director of commercial leasing at Durst.

The surge in office supply is putting pressure on landlords. Average asking rents in lower Manhattan fell to $61.59 a square foot in February, the lowest since 2016, according to the brokerage firm Colliers. The prices for subleases are often lower, ranging from $30 to $60, CoStar data show.

Concessions are rising, including more rent-free months on shorter leases and growing allowances for improvements. Incentives are also ramping up for brokers, with landlords offering free Amex and Visa gift cards just to get their spaces shown.