Manhattan rents at record highs hint at more increases to come
Though rents have eased in other parts of the country as US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars stir up economic uncertainty, New Yorkers have not hit a ceiling on what they are able to pay each month
[NEW YORK] Manhattan’s apartment market is heading into its most competitive months of the year with rents already at record highs. They are only likely to continue rising through the summer.
The US$4,500 median monthly rate for April’s new leases ties the level first reached in February and missed by just US$5 in March, according to appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman.
The prices many apartment hunters agreed to pay last month were even higher than what landlords were asking. On average, new leases commanded 2.4 per cent more than the listed price, the largest premium that Miller Samuel has seen in decades of monitoring. Nearly 26 per cent of deals were signed after a bidding war, just short of another high hit in February.
Taken together, the measures show a market under severe pressure, where renter demand remains high and very few new units are under construction across the city, especially in Manhattan. Though rents have eased in other parts of the country as US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars stir up economic uncertainty, New Yorkers have not hit a ceiling on what they are able to pay each month.
“There aren’t any clear signs of relief in the short to medium term,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel. “There’s no endgame to the housing affordability crisis.”
Before the pandemic scrambled the Manhattan apartment market, rents were typically 1 to 2 per cent below the asking price and bidding wars were infrequent. Last month, units ranging from studios to three bedrooms all had average lease prices that were 2 to 3 per cent above ask.
“The pricing pressure is broad-based,” Miller said. “This is not something where we can say it’s skewed by the high-end or larger apartments or something like that.”
The dynamics in the outer boroughs, which historically have drawn many people priced out of Manhattan, were mixed. In northwest Queens, including Astoria and Long Island City, the median rent jumped 9.4 per cent annually to US$3,550. The median price in Brooklyn was US$3,600, the same as it was a year earlier. BLOOMBERG
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