If you want to settle down in the heart of New York, now might be the time. After six months of steady growth, Manhattan’s rental market appears to be starting to level off. New leases were signed at a median price of $4,100, $50 less than July’s record high, according to a report released Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc., quoted by the business headline Bloomberg.
Note that this decline took place during the traditionally busiest month of the year with more than 5,800 transactions signed in August, an increase of almost 10% compared to July.
However, the experts interviewed by the American site do not expect a lasting contraction in prices. In Manhattan, rents are even higher than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic: August’s median rate is 17% higher than the same month three years ago.
Deceptive slowdown
And the owners do not seem ready to lower the rents. “Throughout the period, we kept asking ourselves how long the very high rents could last”, explains Hal Gavzie, vice president of residential leasing at Douglas Elliman (a real estate company) interviewed by Bloomberg. Fact, “Rents remain high but they are starting to level off, specifies Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, in charge of the study quoted by the information site.
Manhattan’s housing market, which remains tight, is having repercussions in other parts of New York. In Brooklyn, for example, people looking for a cheaper alternative to Manhattan drove the median rent in August to a record high of $3,500, up nearly 3% from July.
To address my questions in advance and be informed of Forum Expat news, I’m registering ici.