Harry Macklowe, the property tycoon, has agreed to sell the General Motors Building and three other Manhattan skyscrapers to Mort Zuckerman’s Boston Properties for $3.95bn.

The deal, which could help loosen the logjam within New York’s commercial real estate market, represents a timely escape for Mr Macklowe. The real estate investor had defaulted on loans used to fund his $7bn purchase of buildings from Blackstone Group in February 2007, the height of the property boom.