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After a dismal first quarter, sales of large office properties picked up dramatically over the past three months.
Some $7.4 billion of sales closed in the second quarter, up from a paltry $4 billion from January through March, according to a survey by Real Estate Alert that measured office transactions valued at $20 million or more.
Through mid-year, sales were still down a sharp 28% from a year earlier to $11.5 billion from $16 billion. And the number of transactions declined to 184 from 225. But the second-quarter spurt suggests that the sales market has started to emerge from the slump following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Brokers estimate that full-year volume will hit a respectable $25 billion - or about 20% less than 2001's record $31.3 billion.
The second-quarter total compared favorably with the activity from a year earlier, when the market was booming. Some $9.1 billion of transactions closed in last year's second quarter. But that figure was skewed by the mammoth $1.85 billion sale of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Excluding that deal, this year's activity was slightly higher.
New York City, as usual, was the busiest market, though...