•Last year was one of the slowest on record in terms of leasing velocity, with many tenants opting to delay business decisions until after the election. November—which is often a busy month—registered activity more typical of August.•Year-over-year leasing activity has more than doubled , with several large leases announced including Fox/NewsCorp at 1211 Avenue of the Americas (1,224,000 s.f.), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) at Brookfield Place (402,000 s.f.), Spotify at 4 World Trade Center (378,000 s.f.) and New York State Attorney General at 28 Liberty Street (345,000 s.f.).