Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
MNS has just published the September edition of its monthly Manhattan rental market report, which is the only research on the city's rental rates that is published on a monthly basis.
Manhattan rental markets showing strong improvement © Donald Swartz - Fotolia.com
This particular month is significant as it marks the three-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse and is a good opportunity to illustrate how Manhattan's rental market has improved. Generally speaking, the neighborhoods which have seen the most significant recovery are those which have traditionally been the most expensive, and areas such as Greenwich Village, SoHo and Tribeca have seen an average of 13% increase in rents over the past three years. However, rents in Harlem have seen a similar increase, and this may be because renters are being pushed out of the downturn market and are choosing to rent in more affordable areas. Some areas such as Midtown East, the Upper East Side and Murray Hill have shown little movement over the past three years, but these areas are regarded as being traditionally more stable.
Average rental prices showed nominal growth when compared to August, and a month on month comparison reveals the average rent increased by 1.3% for one bedrooms, 1.6% for two bedrooms but decreased by 2.7% for studios. All in all, prices are up by 0.8% when compared to August, with a 0.2% increase in non-doorman units and a fairly negligible decrease in doorman properties.
Year on year, the greatest increase in rental prices can be seen in non-doorman two-bedroom units which saw prices increase by 14%, while the greatest decline can be seen in the non-doorman studios which registered a fall of 1.8%. In general, rental prices of studios increased by 2.9%, one bedroom by 9.4% and two bedrooms by 11.5% when compared to September 2010. Inventory levels are expected to increase into autumn as many new leases signed last summer are now expiring, releasing more units into the market.
