New York City’s average rental rate inched past the $3,000 mark for the first time in the second quarter, according to new market data reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
Rents in the city – excluding Staten Island – rose 1 percent from the first quarter to $3,017, the highest in the country and nearly $2,000 more than the national average of $1,062, according to data from real estate research firm Reis.
The rental hikes stem from an extremely tight inventory. The numbers show a vacancy rate of 2 percent; the national average is 4.3 percent.
On the upside, more than 20,000 units are expected to hit the market in New York City and its suburbs by 2015, Luis Mejia, CoStar Group’s director of multifamily research, told the Journal.