Manhattan renters get a break after two years of surging costs

New York

MANHATTAN apartment rents fell in March - the first annual decline in two years - in a sign that housing costs have approached the limits of what tenants are willing to pay.

The median monthly rent was US$3,300, down 2.8 per cent from March 2015, according to a report on Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The vacancy rate rose to 2.42 per cent, the highest for March in nine years of record-keeping by the firms. It was 1.99 per cent a year earlier.