Manhattan’s Luxury Rental Market Had a Stellar May

(Source: mansionglobal.com)

There were 95 leases signed for roughly $18,500 or more per month

BY FANG BLOCK | PUBLISHED ON JUNE 10, 2021

Manhattan’s luxury rental market showed unprecedented strength in May, with the number of leases signed and median prices rising to the highest levels on record, according to a Douglas Elliman report released Thursday.

The 95 “trophy rentals”—which accounted for the top 1% of the rental market—had a median rent of $25,000 and an entry threshold of $18,493 per month, according to Jonathan Miller, chief executive of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the report.

Additionally, there were 391 Manhattan apartments leased in May for $10,000 or higher per month, and 170 had a rent higher than $15,000 per month, according to Mr. Miller.

“The number of leases in the high-end segments rose more than seven-fold year over year,” Mr. Miller said. “While May 2020 was abnormally low because of the pandemic lockdown, the absolute figures were all-time highs.”

Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel began to track the New York rental market in 2008.

Across the board, Manhattan saw 9,491 new leases signed last month, increasing 333% year over year and marking the highest level on record. The median rent was $3,195, down 9.9% from a year ago, according to the report.

About 40.5% of leases came with landlords’ concessions, which amounted to two rent-free months. In April, the market share of leases signed with landlord concessions was 48%, with the average concession equating to 2.2 months of rent free.

The trend might indicate a stabilizing rental market in Manhattan, although conditions change day-by-day as New York’s comeback from the pandemic accelerates, said Gary Malin, chief operating officer at the Corcoran Group in its report, also released Thursday.

“As a whole, landlords are not being as aggressive as they once were, but it hasn’t impacted velocity,” he said. “In some cases, they released additional units they may have held off the market due to lower demand in previous months.”

According to Corcoran’s report, Manhattan had 14,913 apartments available for rent in May, up 9% from April and up 142% from May 2020.

There were only two neighborhoods in Manhattan that saw median rent rise in May, namely, SoHo/Tribeca, where the median rent rose 13% year over year to $7,083 per month, and Inwood/Washington Heights, which had a median rent of $2,196 per month, rising 4% annually, according to the report.