With supply outpacing demand for luxury rentals, price growth is nominal and landlords are increasingly shelling out concessions to renters in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The median rental price hit $3,450, a mere 0.9 percent year-over-year increase.
In Manhattan, the share of new leases with landlord concessions in July was more than double seen at the same time last year, according to Miller Samuels latest market report. Nearly 11 percent of the new leases (versus 5.3 percent in July 2015) provided concessions to tenants. At the same time, the vacancy rate last month — 2.5 percent — was the highest seen for July in the last nine years. Listing inventory also jumped to the highest level in more than seven years, reaching 7,681 — a 30.3 percent year-over-year increase.
According to a separate report from Citi Habitats, the borough’s vacancy reached 1.9 percent — the highest rate the brokerage has reported for July since it started tracking the stat in 2002. The brokerage also reported that 19 percent of rental transactions it brokered last month offered free rent for a month and/or payment of the brokers’ fees.
Similarly in Brooklyn, the median residential rent fell to $2,826, the first decline so far this year, though only a 0.8 percent drop from the same time last year. The share of new leases with landlord concessions reached 9.5 percent, nearly double the 5.6 percent seen in July 2015. Like Manhattan, listing inventory in Brooklyn hit a seven-year high of 2,424 units.