Brooklyn Emerges as NYC’s Coworking Growth Engine, Manhattan Rents Cross $100 in the Plaza District 

Key Takeaways:

• Brooklyn’s coworking inventory grew 6.2% Q-o-Q to 2.1 million square feet, adding a net 122,600 square feet even as Manhattan shed 200,800
• Several submarkets with low coworking inventory saw growth in Q2, led by the Bay Ridge-Sunset Park area which expanded its footprint by 74% in a single quarter
• Manhattan asking rents rose 3.2% Q-o-Q to just above $72 per square foot, ahead of the 2.7% national average rent growth
• The Plaza District broke $100 per sq. ft. in asking rents, reaching $107.46 to hold on to the title of NYC’s most expensive submarket
• Brooklyn asking rents jumped 6.9% Q-o-Q to $39.46 per square foot, the sharpest borough-level gain in NYC

In Q2 of 2026, Manhattan vacancies held steady at 13.1% while Brooklyn asking rents accelerated than its neighbor Manhattan and the national market. Meanwhile, the coworking market underwent borough-level changes, with Brooklyn expanding as Manhattan pulled back. These metrics, captured in Hubble’s Q2 2026 NYC office report covering both shared and traditional office space, point to a NYC office market rebalancing both against the national trend and internally between its boroughs.

Office Space Vacancies

Manhattan Vacancy Holds at 13.1%, Preserves 450-Bps Gap with the National Market 

Manhattan’s vacancy rate held at 13.1% at the end of June, unchanged from March and preserving a gap of approximately 450 basis points (bps) below the national benchmark. The national rate was also largely unchanged quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q), meaning the Manhattan-U.S. gap maintained its size between March and June. Queens office spaces posted the sharpest borough-level improvement, with vacancy falling 170 bps to 22.8%, while Brooklyn’s vacancy edged up to 14.6% — 150 bps above Manhattan.

With office occupancy figures also remaining mostly level throughout 2026, the next question is whether Q2’s flat vacancy rates are temporary or a first indication of the current occupancy equilibrium.

Office Space Asking Rents

Traditional Asking Rents Climb 3.2% in Manhattan as Plaza District Crosses $100 per Sq. Ft.

While the national average asking rent increased 2.7% in Q2 to $33.67 per square foot, Manhattan asking rents rose a sharper 3.2% Q-o-Q to just above $72 per square foot. Brooklyn recorded an even steeper 6.9% gain over the same period, reaching $39.46, while Queens offices climbed 4.6% Q-o-Q to $41.52 and the Bronx dipped 0.4% Q-o-Q to remain below the national baseline. 

The Plaza District extended its lead as NYC’s most expensive submarket, with asking rents reaching $107.46 per square foot, making it the only submarket to cross the $100 threshold in Q2. Chelsea followed at $94.16 per square foot, then SoHo at $88.41per square foot. The Harlem-North Manhattan area led Upper Manhattan at $50.73 per square foot. Outside Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights held its borough lead at $56.31 per square foot, remaining flat quarter-over-quarter, while Queens’ Jackson Heights-Elmhurst area posted the next highest figure outside Manhattan at $50 per square foot.

At the other end of the range, Williamsburg-Greenpoint was the city’s most affordable submarket at $26.29 per square foot, followed by the South Bronx ($27.20) and the Fordham Corridor ($29).

Coworking & Flex Inventory

City-Wide Coworking Dips to 15.2M Sq. Ft., Brooklyn Partly Absorbs Manhattan’s Q2 Contraction

NYC’s coworking and flex office inventory contracted slightly to 15.2 million square feet at the end of Q2, down from 15.3 million at the end of Q1. Manhattan alone shed 200,800 square feet — roughly 1.6% of its inventory — as several coworking, creative office and shared lab locations closed or scaled down. The decrease is smaller than the 328,000 square feet Manhattan added in Q1 and likely reflects a temporary consolidation rather than a structural pullback.

Nonetheless, individual Manhattan submarkets still posted gains. Gramercy Park added another 27,800 square feet on top of its Q1 gains and Greenwich Village grew by nearly 62,000 square feet to reach a total of 329,800 square feet. Still, those additions were outweighed by contractions in Midtown and Lower Manhattan: The World Trade Center submarket lost 61,900 square feet, United Nations-Turtle Bay 64,500 square feet and Times Square-Hell’s Kitchen 73,900 square feet.

Brooklyn expanded 6.2% Q-o-Q to reach 2.1 million square feet, adding 122,600 square feet and nearly offsetting Manhattan’s decline. Coworking now accounts for 4.7% of Brooklyn’s total office inventory (up 30 bps compared to Q1), against Manhattan’s 2.5% and a national benchmark of 2.3%.

The Bay Ridge-Sunset Park submarket led the borough’s expansion, adding 77,800 square feet to grow its inventory by 74% to 183,000 square feet. Central and South Brooklyn added 31,600 square feet, followed by Bushwick-Bedford-Stuyvesant with 30,600 square feet and Williamsburg-Greenpoint with 18,000 square feet. Queens, meanwhile, added 6,200 square feet, while the Bronx remained unchanged.

Manhattan per-desk pricing rebounded 4.6% Q-o-Q to $821, with Lower Manhattan extending its lead as the priciest area at $947 per desk. Brooklyn per-desk pricing was almost flat quarter-over-quarter at $720. Across all office sizes, Brooklyn remained more affordable, coming in 20% below the Manhattan average for one- to five-desk offices and 31% cheaper in the 11-to-20-desks category.

Looking Ahead

Two-Track Rebalancing Sharpens as Brooklyn Absorbs Coworking Demand

Q2’s numbers highlight the two office shaping the New York office market: Traditional leases are still tightening in Manhattan’s premium submarkets, but the coworking growth engine continues to favor undersupplied areas.

Whether Manhattan’s Q2 coworking contraction proves to be a one-quarter correction or the start of a longer geographic redistribution will depend on how Q3 leasing activity absorbs the vacated Midtown and Lower Manhattan office inventory. Tenant appetite for hub-and-spoke offices remains strong, but sustained demand will likely be a prerequisite before operators commit to more locations outside the Manhattan core.

About the data

This analysis draws on the Q1 2026 NYC office report from Hubble, the largest flex office space platform in the United Kingdom that recently launched in the U.S. Hubble has been part of the Yardi family of brands since 2025.

Methodology 

Hubble’s quarterly report covers coworking inventory, shared office pricing and traditional office indicators across the New York City market.   

Shared space inventory, asking rents and vacancy data were sourced from Yardi Research. Private office desk pricing was sourced from Hubble listing data.  

Coworking (or flexible) space inventory refers to office inventory operated by coworking, serviced office and managed office providers. Quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q) changes in coworking inventory were reported in both absolute and percentage terms. The ratio of coworking space out of total inventory is calculated as coworking space inventory divided by total office inventory.  

Average desk prices represent the average monthly listing price for a private office desk based on active Hubble listings during the reporting period.  

To ensure statistical reliability, headline Desk Price figures are reported only for boroughs with at least 10 listings with pricing included and borough divisions with at least 5 listings with pricing included. Desk Price by Office Size segments average monthly desk pricing by the size of the private office using a lower threshold of at least 5 listings with pricing per borough and at least 3 listings with pricing per subdivision. Boroughs and subdivisions that fall below these thresholds are omitted from the corresponding tables.  

Asking Rent refers to the average full-service (or “full-service equivalent”) asking rent per square foot per year for traditional office space that was available as of the report period.  

Vacancy rates do not include owner-occupied properties.  

Reporting periods are defined as follows:  

• Q1 2026 — Data as of the end of March 2026. 

• Q2 2026 — Data as of the end of June 2026.

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