Inman

Increased rental inventory in New York City helps soften prices

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Rent prices across the Big Apple moved in different directions last month, according to the Douglas Elliman rental survey for July. However, rental inventory showed a consistent upward trend in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Manhattan rentals went up in price, while Brooklyn and Queens new lessees benefitted from a break in rent last month, the report says. Once again, Manhattan came in as the most expensive borough.

Rental inventory increased in each borough since July 2015. Manhattan led in new apartment inventory year-over-year, at 30.3 percent, followed by Brooklyn, at 29.6 percent. Meanwhile, Queens’ rental inventory jumped 15.1 percent.

Manhattan

Looking closer at Manhattan, Douglas Elliman data shows median rental price is up 0.9 percent since last July, reaching $3,450 per month. Despite the slight surge, price growth has been overall slow so far this year, the report shows.

Douglas Elliman report

Non-doorman rents increased faster than doorman rents, the report says, and luxury median price dipped almost 7 percent to reach $7,889 per month. Concessions from landlords doubled since last year. Vacancies were the highest in almost a decade, at 2.49 percent of the market in July.

Brooklyn

Median rent in Brooklyn dropped 0.8 percent since last year and 1.9 percent since June, according to the report. Brooklyn’s median rent reached $2,826 per month in July, which is $624 less than Manhattan’s median rent.

Douglas Elliman Report

This was the first decline in median rent price this year for Brooklyn. However, luxury median rent in Brooklyn increased 2.1 percent year-over-year in July to $5,453 per month.

Simultaneously, new leases grew, which the report says is largely due to tenants resisting renewals for rent increases. There were 1,321 new leases last month, up 24.3 percent since June and 27.4 percent since July 2015.

Queens

Although it posted the smallest inventory jump out of the three boroughs, apartment prices in Queens dropped 8.2 percent year-over-year, reaching a new median of $2,768 per month. Median rent in Queens is now just $58 less than median rent in Brooklyn.

Douglas Elliman report

Luxury units in Queens – or the top 10 percent of the market – cost a median $4,418 per month. Last year, luxury apartments came at a median $4,650 per month.

New leases, not including renewals, grew 3 percent to 308 total for July. This is a 7.3 percent jump from the 287 new leases the month prior.

Email Jennifer Riner