Average Manhattan rent breaks $5,000 for the first time

The average rental price in Manhattan has topped $5,000 for the first time in Big Apple history, according to a jaw-dropping June market report compiled by Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.

Specifically, the study tallied an average Manhattan rent of $5,058 per month, which alone would set a city tenant back nearly $61,000 a year. That figure marks a 1.7% month-over-month climb from the $4,975 average rent recorded in May, as well as a 29% year-over-year spike from the $3,922 average found in June 2021.

Last month, Elliman and Miller Samuel revealed that Manhattan’s median rent reached $4,000 for the first time ever in May, a 25.2% year-over-year jump from the $3,195 median the previous May.

Median rent is the mid-point value of the total price samples. Average rent is the sum of all rents divided by the number of the sample size.

Since late 2021, rents have risen for a variety of factors, one of which includes ongoing record-high inflation rates. Locals also began returning to the city from their COVID hideaways, first as schools reopened and later as companies implemented hybrid office-home arrangements. Out-of-towners who work full-time remote also began moving to New York to take advantage of their locational flexibility.

Elliman also added that, with an increase in mortgage rates, would-be buyers have turned to renting, adding even more pressure to an already tight market, which lately has been marked by bidding wars to secure leases for a scarce number of units.

In June, Manhattan saw 6,433 units available for rent — 11.4% more than the 5,776 listed in May, but a nearly 46% drop from the 11,853 available last June. Among them, listing portal StreetEasy shows, the most expensive in the city: a roughly 6,240-square-foot penthouse at One57 on Billionaires’ Row in midtown listed by Deborah Kern of the Corcoran Group for $150,000, with front-seat views of the Hudson and East rivers, as well as Central Park. As for the least expensive, $1,300 per month gets a one-bedroom near an A train station way uptown in Inwood.

The report also tracks statistics in Brooklyn and northwest Queens; between all three areas, a total of 10,271 units were listed in June. In June 2021, there were 26,256. Figures for The Bronx and Staten Island are not included.

For its part, Brooklyn saw an average rent of $3,822, up 20% from last June’s $3,185. Its median, meanwhile, hit $3,300 — a 22% year-over-year climb. Northwest Queens, which includes prime Astoria, saw an average rent of $3,352 in June, up 15.1% from last June’s $2,913 average. That region’s median hit $3,002 in June, up 11.2% from last June.

Anna Finkelstein, 24, graduated from Columbia University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program in May — and for the last month has searched for a two-bedroom, or a flexible one-bedroom, apartment to share with her college friend, 25-year-old Abby Alden, with the help of BOND salesperson Ekaterina Vorobeva.

“Even in the past three weeks, I think I’ve seen almost 25 to 30 apartments — I’ll go see five in a day,” said Finkelstein, who added she and Alden have searched around midtown east, midtown west, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side with a $4,000 monthly budget between them.

“We have a pretty wide neighborhood range,” she later added, “but it has not made our search any easier. It means I’m running around more.”

Finkelstein saw one Manhattan apartment whose whole floor was slanted at an angle. Another apartment had its bedrooms in the basement level. At one open house, attendees were told that whoever sent in the deposit first got the apartment. Another open house had 30 people standing in line for 90 minutes total, up the stairs and around the corner.

“When that happens, you just don’t even apply,” said Finkelstein. “You’re like, no way.”

Though Finkelstein can stay with family for now, and Alden has been subletting, they hope things can calm down — and that they can ink a lease in August.

“We just have to keep looking — and we keep reaching out to brokers hoping to get something early before it goes on the market,” said Finkelstein.