Rents across New York City climbed to record levels last month, with median rents in Manhattan, Brooklyn and northwest Queens all setting new marks in July, according to a new report from real estate giant Douglas Elliman and appraisers Miller Samuel released Thursday.
The median rent in Manhattan hit $4,400 in July, according to the data, up $100 from the month before and up 6% from the same time last year. That’s an all-time high, which it reached for the third time in four months. The median rental price for a studio apartment was $3,200, $200 more than it was a year ago.
Vacancy rates and new lease signings both slipped from June “as the market approaches the seasonal summer peak,” a press release on the report said.
Meanwhile Brooklyn median rent set a new record for the fourth straight month, reaching $3,950 — an 11% jump in just a month, and $550 more than July 2022. Studio median rent was $3,150, a 5% increase compared to June.
Northwest Queens also set a new record for median rent with $3,641, a slight increase over the month prior. Studio apartments had a median rent of $3,088, an almost 3% increase from June.
The report did not include data on the Bronx and Staten Island.
Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel and author of the report, told the Daily News he believes the prices could finally peak this month or next — but that leveling off won’t necessarily translate to lower rents for New Yorkers.
“We’ve had a year and a half of every month being a record or near a record. I think we’re running towards the end of that trend,” he said. “And perhaps this is a sign that rents are topping out or getting close to it.”
But he cautioned that “the opposite of rising rents is not falling rents, it’s actually stabilizing rents.”
“Prices aren’t rising in the rental market because there’s not much to lease,” Miller explained. “They’re rising because landlords are pushing and fewer and fewer people seem to be going along with the higher rents, so it looks like they’re renewing instead of trying to find a better deal elsewhere.”
There are a myriad factors that contribute to New York’s rents, including rising interest rates, a dearth of new housing and the ongoing fallout from the pandemic.
“I called 2023 the year of disappointment because landlords were going to see rents top out at some point and renters were not going to see substantial discounts or an improvement in affordability,” Miller said. “And I think that’s really where we are right now.”
