Volume of retail real estate sold in NYC declined 51% in April yoy

The total square feet of retail real estate sold in April in New York City was down 51 percent from the same month last year, and also down a more modest 10 percent from March 2023, according to an analysis by PincusCo Media. The analysis includes all commercial property types with at least 1,000 square feet of retail space.

For the amount of square feet sold in each transaction, the analysis used the square feet of retail figure for the property tax lot the city reports in its data set known as Pluto.
The volume of retail space which changes hands is often hidden in transactions, since its typically a small portion of an office or residential building. However a sale may bring a new business plan for the retail portion of the building.

The volume of square feet sold closely tracks the dollar volume in the city, but is not exactly the same. For example in April 2023 the total dollar volume of commercial sales that have been recorded so far is up compared with the prior month, but for the volume of retail square feet sold, it’s down.

The Manhattan retail market showed a slight uptick last month, driven by the retail portion of the office building at 400 Lafayette Street in NoHo, Manhattan, which New York University bought for $97.5 million from Sand Associates. The building includes 24,000 square feet of retail space, according to city figures. The next largest amount of retail sold was Black Spruce and Orbach Affordable which paid Solow Realty & Development

The Brooklyn market declined, but had several significant retail sales last month, including a Louisiana investor paying $7.3 million for a big box location in Flatlands with 24,000 square feet of retail according to Pluto, and Pedro Diaz, who paid $2.2 million for retail in Bay Ridge with 12,000 square feet.