New York

IT'S a renter's market in New York City, and apartment-seekers jumped in last month to get themselves a deal.

In Manhattan, the number of newly-signed leases climbed 17 per cent in May from a year earlier to 5,969, the biggest total for the month in nine years of record-keeping, according to a report on Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. In Brooklyn, new apartment contracts surged 23 per cent to 1,460, also the biggest total for the month in data going back to 2008.