Apartments in New York went up on the last quarter of 2011. Normally Winter season is the slowest season of the year when it comes to renting apartments in New York. Usually you start feeling the season coming along just before the holidays. During the time of Thanksgiving and going through New Years. It then stays through the season till Spring when the search continues. This is why it was unusual when the rent increase was raised up to 9.5% by landlords. Rent wise the rent rose to $3,121 a month from $2,849 a year earlier.
The reality is that the market is still sluggish. Getting a mortgage has been stricter to get and a weak consumer confidence are limiting buying a home and driving a huge demand for rentals. Buying an apartment in Manhattan has fallen to 12% due to this and has surged the need for renting apartments in New York instead. Although with sales being sluggish this did increase lease signing to 37 days in the fourth quarter. June has always been the fastest by 33 days.
Now that there is a huge demand in rentals there are few incentives. For starters you’ll rarely find “No Broker Fee” or from Landlords “One Month Free”. At least for the city apartments landlords have been picky in choosing their next tenants. Choosing from those that don’t have a job to little things like what pets they own. But why make that a choice when you can make it into an extra charge. Yes, landlords have also been making it into a surcharge if a dog will living on the premises.
Vacancy rates have dropped from last year’s 1.2 percent to 1.1 percent during this time last year. This will most likely increase this year and so will the rent. Remember the increase of the rents is mostly based in Manhattan apartments. The rents compared to Brooklyn have been steady. This is why when people ask me where to live I always try to let them know there are 4 other boroughs in New York City. The transportation to your job might take a little longer depending where you live but the rent and the cost of living will be cheaper. So as you wait until we all figure out what is really going on in this market consider to rent but try the other boroughs and save a little more.
