Median Apartment Rents in Manhattan Top Record
Half of tenants ink two-year deals, lock in $4,175 per month, expect higher rates.
Median rents of apartments in Manhattan reached a new record in March, as new lease signings were the second highest on record for the month.
The median rental price surged to $4,175 per month in March, a 2% increase over February and a 12.8% YOY increase, with net effective median rent (including landlord concessions) also at a record level of $4, 124, according to the new Elliman Report.
The previous all-time high apartment rates in Manhattan were hit in July 2022, when the median monthly rent hit $4,150.
As the market moved into the spring season, lease signings and listing inventory expanded rapidly. The number of new leases jumped to 4,863 in March, a 20.5% surge over February’s tally of 4,037. Listing inventory rose to 6,366, a 6.3% increase over the prior month.
The vacancy rate in Manhattan ticked up to 2.54% from 2.30% in February, still below the decade average of 3%. The market share of bidding wars in Manhattan, a proxy for rents above the landlord’s asking price, rose to 16%, with a premium paid of 9.3%.
“The market share of two-year leases expanded to 56.3%, the highest level in 20 months, as tenants want to lock in rents with the expectations of higher rent prices going forward,” Elliman’s report said.
The median rental price for luxury units in Manhattan dipped 4.5% to a bargain-basement $10,500 from February’s level of $11,000. The March median rent for luxury units is well below October’s record of $13,000.
Median rents in Brooklyn ticked up 2.7% to $3,493 in March from February’s rate of $3,400. Leasing activity in Brooklyn surged more than 37% to 2,114 new leases, up from 1,540 in February—the highest on record.
The market share of two-year leases in Brooklyn expanded to 72.2%, the highest level in more than a year. Listing inventory has expanded annually in Brooklyn for the fourth time.
Median rents also ticked up in Northwest Queens, to $3,300 in March, an increase of 1.9% over February’s rate of $3,238. New leasing activity was flat at 497, only two leases short of February’s total.
Net effective median rents, including landlord concessions, were the second highest on record in Northwest Queens in March, at $3,265. The market share of two-year leases expanded to 86.2% in Queens.