NYC Rental Market Update for May: New Buildings in the Outerboroughs as Manhattan Prices Rise
Another month, another record for Manhattan rental apartments, and not in a good way for would-be Manhattan renters. Because although the average Manhattan rent in May only went up by an insignificant-sounding nine dollars, that does mean that the average Manhattan rental apartment now goes for an astonishing $3,438 a month.
And, given that right now we’re in peak NYC rental market season (it’s all those newly-minted college graduates flooding the market), no surprise, vacancy rates are once again below 1%. Which also means that “concession rates”, as measured by the number of Manhattan rental apartments for which landlords give prospective tenants a break to lure them into signing a lease (a month’s rent for free, for example), is also low, clocking in at just under 6%.
As Gary Malin, the president of Citi Habitats says in the Wall Street Journal, “There are bidding wars on apartments, and tenants are not in any sort of position to negotiate prices. Good apartments are rented before they reach the market.” Hoo boy.
So what’s the good news for Manhattan rental apartment seekers? Well, as I always say, that depressingly costly “average” is just that, an average. Which means there are tons of homes for less, and, if you know where to look, and are ready to pounce on something great, sometimes for much less.
Also, there’s the imminent construction/renovation/opening of several high-profile, extremely appealing (and, yes, often expensive) NYC rental apartment buildings this year, ten of which the New York Post was kind enough to profile last week.
In addition to the previously mentioned Windermere, the Post also provides sneak peeks of hyped-up rentals in Vinegar Hill, the Financial District, Brooklyn Heights, Nolita, Williamsburg, Kips Bay, Crown Heights (above), and Long Island City (at top). In other words: new NYC rental apartments are popping up all over town.
Meanwhile, the Daily News had a feel-good NYC rental apartment profile of their own, an exhaustive look at “the best of New York real estate“. Yes, there’s some pretty hot real estate porn in the piece, such as the (drool worthy) living-area rendering for One 57, which the News calls “the riskiest and most luxurious real estate project in the city since the Apthorp at the turn of the century,” and the “Best Lobby” winner, a DUMBO rental apartment on Water Street, pictured above, which is pretty delicious, too.
But there are also some useful categories for would-be renters, including, “Best Value Rental” neighborhood (according to the News, it’s Parkchester, the Bronx) and, most obviously, “Best Rental Neighborhoods in NYC”: Long Island City, Upper West Side, Williamsburg, Astoria, and the Financial District.
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