Real Estate
NYC rents begin to increase again: Report
BY DEAN JAMIESON
After a year and a half of decline,
New York City rents are beginning
to increase, according to a new
market report by StreetEasy.
“We’ve hit a point where rents are now
beginning to tick up,” read the report,
which gathers rental data across the city’s
fi ve boroughs and then calculates a median
for each.
Although the changes remain in the
double digits, the trend lines are clear
across all fi ve boroughs. Manhattan’s rent,
which saw the most precipitous drop,
has seen an increase by $60, to $2,860;
Brooklyn and Queens saw increases by
$49 and $50, to $2,449 and $2,100,
respectively.
“The vibrancy and energy of the city
is returning, and the real estate market is
following suit,” said StreetEasy economic
Nancy Wu.
Although the pandemic and its economic
fallout resulted in a massive drop in
prices – by some 16.8% in Manhattan, the
steepest decline in decades – it is clear that
predictions of a more permanent exodus
from the City have not been borne out.
No sooner had vaccinations been given
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
and COVID fears assayed then the decline,
which some said might be permanent,
reversed.
Ironically, the drop in prices over the
past year has been a factor in their increase
today, as buyers and renters, watching the
decline, rushed to sign.
Although Manhattan saw the largest
increase, it is Brooklyn that remains the
hottest borough, said the report, with a
“record high number of homes entering
contract for the third month in a row.”
In Manhattan and Queens, as well,
homes are selling fast, with the average
home now on the market for 56 days; in
January 2021, by comparison, they languished
for as much as 116 days.
Nonetheless, it could be months before
the city’s rents reach their pre-pandemic
heights. “Competition is much higher now
than it has been in the past year, but there
is still lots of inventory to go around,” said
Wu. “Sales prices still have room to fall.”
Manhattan remains the farthest from
its pre-pandemic height; despite the last
months’ increase, rent remains 18% lower
than its March 2020 high of $3,500.
Yet, as the pandemic winds down, the
economy re-opens, and people return to
the city, we can expect that gap to close.
18 July 1, 2021 Schneps Media