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Demand for Manhattan office properties is intensifying in the wake of the Sept. 11 destruction of the World Trade Center.
Investors, though they're being cautious, are nevertheless betting on the long-term health of the city by purchasing buildings here. In the weeks since the attack, according to brokers, there's been more interest in properties for sale and deals completed in the past few weeks stayed at prices negotiated before Sept. 11.
Boosting demand are businesses displaced by the attack. They are either seeking buildings themselves or signing big leases that will increase the value of the buildings they're moving into.
As a scant supply of buildings shrinks further, prices are likely to stay high over the next few months.
"Demand is much greater than the supply of product right now," says Scott Latham, a senior vice president at brokerage CB Richard Ellis Inc. "Sellers think that putting product on the market signifies they are desperate and need to sell. But buyers don't see it that way. They want product."
In resolving to stick with New York, investors are grappling with market conditions whose impact on building valuations is impossible to quantify. There are...