Rents in Manhattan continue to soar—with the median rent in the most desirable borough of New York reaching an even $4,000 for the first time, according to Douglas Elliman’s newly released May rental market report. Average rents have also reached a record, $4,975, just a hair under $5,000 a month.
That marks a 25.2% surge in median rents and a 22% increase for average rents from a year ago. By comparison, in May 2021, the median rent in Manhattan was $3,195.
Landlords are making fewer concessions, too; the market share of landlord concessions in May fell to 15.3%, the lowest since September 2016.
Landlords gave tenants discounts on their listing prices in only 3.1% of leases—and anxious renters engaged in bidding wars for 18.5% of the leases signed.
Meanwhile, luxury price trend indicators all rose to the second-highest on record, Douglas Elliman said.
A Mere 5,776 Listings
Inventory for New York rentals has plummeted nearly 70% in the past year, with only 5,776 listings on the market in May, down from 19,025 in May 2021.
Listings are grabbed up almost as soon as they hit the market, according to apartment seekers. “As soon as an apartment is posted online, you’re basically done,” says Eden Tuckman, a 23-year-old agent with Keller Williams NYC, who herself is in the market for an apartment.
Within moments of an apartment being listed online, Tuckman tells the New York Post, “there’s already another applicant.”
“It’s a game, at the end of the day, which is really unfortunate,” Tuckman says. “People need a place to live—and yet nothing’s helping.”
Including Brooklyn and northwest Queens data in with the Manhattan figures, there was a scant total of 9,103 units available in May—down a whopping 74% from 35,429 rental units a year ago.
Demand to live in New York City is up, the Post says, now that the worst of COVID-19 is over, people are returning to their offices, children are back in school, and tourists are flooding back into the Big Apple.
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