New York

A SOFTER Manhattan real estate market can be seen in office rents, the dollar volume and number of buildings sold, while a large Chinese buying presence so far in 2017 is likely to taper off later this year, brokerage Cushman & Wakefield said on Thursday.

The dollar volume of buildings sold in Manhattan in the first six months of the year is running at half the annualised pace of last year's US$39.6 billion in sales, which was off from a record US$59.9 billion in 2015, the brokerage said.