Apartment rentals New York with Midtown East Rentals

Murray Hill’s unique location in Midtown Manhattan has made it one of the more desirable neighborhoods to live in New York City. After all, residents here are near the city’s famous hotspots, be it the bright frenzy of Times Square or the refined elegance of Gramercy Park. But Murray Hill itself has its own particular charm, made apparent with the variety of retail and dining options available in the area. As a result, the neighborhood has been attracting Manhattan home hunters by the dozen, a fact that has not been missed by New York’s real estate developers. This could therefore be one of the reasons why Manhattan-based real estate investment firm Atlas Capital Group has bought the Eastgate Tower Hotel at 224 East 39th Street, with the intention of converting the 147,000-square-foot property into a 190-unit luxury rental building.

Last week the Astor Suite in the Plaza on 768 Fifth Avenue hit the market for $165,000 a month, officially becoming the most expensive apartment in Manhattan. The Astor Suite is a 5,087 square foot 4-bedroom 6-bathroom luxury home. Jurgen Friedrich, the owner of Esprit, bought the Midtown West residence for $25 million in 2007, and turned it around the next year at an asking price of $55 million. We wrote earlier about how more New York residents are taking up an interest in the most luxurious Manhattan rentals. Maybe Friedrich saw the article because now, after three years without a buyer, he’s put up the apartment for rent at its current superlative asking price. We all know luxury apartments for rent at places like the Plaza don’t come cheap, but this story got us wondering what some of the other highest rental prices in Manhattan were. We looked around, and found that rental inventory starts to fall off a little before $100,000, but there are a few places that can compete for the title of "most expensive in Manhattan."

First things first: there are still plenty of good deals out there on Manhattan rental apartments, and even a healthy number of no-fee rental listings in Manhattan. But as the economy continues its slow bounce-back and the Manhattan real estate market follows suit, it looks more and more like the long renter's market for NYC apartments is drawing to a close. The Real Deal's report on May's Manhattan apartment rental statistics bears this out: citywide apartment vacancy is down to under one percent again, and finding a West Village rental (a .33% vacancy rate) or a rental apartment in Chelsea (.52% vacancy rate) is as hard as it has been in years. But, thankfully, at least for those looking for Manhattan rental apartments, May's stats are not all bad news.