Baum tells GlobeSt.com that he thinks we will see a continued downtrend through the fall, and into the winter, but notes that he does not expect the market to fall too drastically. “I would look for price increasing again as we get through the cold months and it begins to warm as we do most years,” he says.

In an effort to keep rent rolls up and minimize vacancies, landlords are offering unconventional incentives ranging from free iPods and digital cameras at lease signing to overseas airline tickets and all-expense paid trips for brokers who close the most deals at Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town. Landlords have also increased offers to pay the tenant's one month's rent or their agent's brokerage fee.

The Manhattan Rental Market Report is specifically compiled to track the price path of average asking rents throughout Manhattan's 14 neighborhoods below 100th Street, omitting ultra-luxury property to obtain a true monthly average. The data is sorted by service level–doorman vs. non-doorman–neighborhood and bedroom size. The Manhattan Rental Market Report is based on data cross-sectioned from over 10,000 currently available listings aggregated from the Tregny proprietary database and sampled from a specific mid-month point to record current rental rates offered by landlords that month.