Rentals Continue to Strengthen in NYC

A recent Bloomberg article just came out with more data ont the current state of Rentals in NYC.  As we have seen first hand on the ground, inventory is shrinking even further (down 32% y-o-y I think).  The average rental is $3000, around $1,800 for a studio.  As of last month, vacancies in the West Village were 0.32%, the tightest market in the city.  That is about 1 available unit in every 310. Yikes.

One of the tougher pills for renters to swallow is that with lower inventory and higher demand (due to lower joblessness and buyers waiting to buy) there is a loss of reduction in incentives from owners and management companies.  This means fewer months of free rent or broker fee-less apartments for the bargain hunters*.

*It should be noted that a “No Fee” place often just increases the monthly rent enough to cover the month paid to the broker, so if you stay more than a year it might be more expensive than paying a broker in the long run.  It is a trade-off between up front costs and monthly costs thereafter.