Apartment rentals New York with Chelsea Rental Listings

Summer In The City: Rents Rise With Temperatures, But Deals Are Still Out There

You’ve got your fired-up barbecues, of course. And the beach trips and baseball games and farmer’s markets and sweltering subway stations and, with ever more frequency, weather nice enough to induce the urge to simply lie down and relax wherever or take long, otherwise unmotivated walks. All of which is to say that it’s officially and incontrovertibly summer in New York City. With all those good things (and the sweltering subways, which one eventually just learns to deal with) comes another NYC summer tradition -- the arrival of the annual warm-weather boom in Manhattan real estate. We noted its first green shoots in the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog last month, and -- same as it does every summer -- the Manhattan luxury rental marketplace is in something very much like full bloom as July arrives.

Of course, as anyone searching for an apartment in NYC already knows, the words “strong Manhattan real estate market” bode better for landlords than those browsing Manhattan rental listings. But there’s good news for both renters and landlords alike in June’s luxury rental statistics. Sustained high demand and lower vacancy rates will (as they usually do) delight landlords. But those browsing Manhattan rental listings can take heart knowing that there are still plenty of deals to be had on luxury rental apartments.

Zoned In: Will Rezoning Make It Easier to Rent in Tribeca?

Recently, Luxury Rentals Manhattan posed a question that anyone searching for a NYC rental apartment has surely asked him or herself: "Are Manhattan rental apartments now a rich person thing?" It’s no secret that New York City is the nation’s most expensive place to rent, and although -- given how much more expensive it is to buy a Manhattan apartment -- renting in Manhattan still seems like the way to go, it's all relative: MNS’ figures show that in May 2011, rental prices increased by 6% from last year’s average. That's overall, though, and as anyone browsing Manhattan rental listings has surely noticed by now, rental prices, while high throughout Manhattan, are highly variable, even between bordering neighborhoods. Averaging studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom costs for each part of Manhattan shows that Tribeca is New York’s most expensive place to rent, while Harlem is the cheapest. That’s not particularly surprising, but some of their findings are. Contrary to popular belief, or common sense for that matter, renting in the Upper East Side is actually less expensive than renting in Greenwich Village, the Upper West Side, or Chelsea. So what does any of this have to do with rezoning North Tribeca and lowering housing costs?

A Blockbuster On The Border: The Continental Is One Of Manhattan's Hottest New Rental Listings... But Where Is It?

We know what The Continental is -- it's a new luxury rental at 32nd Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and it has been one of the most popular luxury rental listings on Luxury Rentals Manhattan since it began leasing in mid-January. What's harder to pin down about The Continental is what neighborhood it's in. By our guidelines at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, the new luxury rental at 32nd Street and Sixth Avenue is filed under Chelsea rental listings, and that categorization passes the initial shrug-test. But The Continental is a shorter walk from the Empire State Building than it is from The High Line, and nearer to Madison Square Garden than Chelsea Market, which could see it filed under Garment District rentals or Clinton rental listings. In this sense, The Continental has something in common with Emerald Green, a blocbuster rental listing on 38th Street that appears to exist in several neighborhoods at once. One thing that is not subject to debate about The Continental, though -- and another thing that it has in common with Emerald Green -- is that it belongs on any list of Manhattan’s most intriguing new luxury rental listings. Wherever it is, The Continental is a hit.

Rise and Fall: Do Rising Vacancy Rates On Manhattan Rental Apartments Augur A Comeback For Concessions?

You know it's good news when Luxury Rentals Manhattan breaks out the popchampagne.jpg imagery, and so it is in this case. Of course, rising vacancy rates are not the sort of thing that landlords pop corks over -- the tighter the market for NYC apartment rentals is, the more they're able to get for said NYC apartment rentals. But with October rental stats showing an (expected, seasonal) rise in the New York apartment vacancy rate, things in the Manhattan real estate market seem to have turned in favor of renters, after months of running the other way. Again, this sort of thing pretty much always happens in autumn, which is why it's the most wonderful time of the year for Manhattan apartment hunters. But that doesn't mean renters shouldn't be celebrating this particular bit of seasonal good luck. While CitiHabitats' report on the October rental market indicated that rents fell one percent from September's averages, the real news here is the rising vacancy rate -- and how it could wind up making concessions on NYC apartments a lot less rare. Thus the popping corks. Read on for the nitty gritty.

Leaves Fall, No-Fee Apartment Listings Rise, or Why We Love NYC Real Estate In Fall

The specific numbers are different from quarter to quarter, of course, but for the most part the last few rounds of NYC rental stats  all point to the same conclusion -- the market for Manhattan rental apartments is strong, and growing stronger with each passing month. Which sounds great, of course, but has been less than great in practice for Manhattan rental apartment hunters. With vacancy rates back under one percent and rents rising slowly but steadily, all the things that made the less-than-strong NYC rental market of old so appealing for renters have become harder and harder to find. Regular readers of the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog have probably noticed that posts like this have become something of a regular presence in this space. Gone, we note in tones of deep regret, are Manhattan rental apartments offering concessions, gone are the free months of rent and gym memberships and suchlike. Gone are the no-fee... oh wait, what's that? Some high-end new construction rental buildings are actually still offering up appealing concessions? And no-fee NYC rental listings are on the rise even though the rental market is strong and getting stronger? Must be getting cold outside. (Yes, that actually is how it works)

Those Were The Reasons And That Was New York: Remembering The Chelsea Hotel, Pondering What's Next

It's something of an understatement to write that the Chelsea Hotel is among one of the most famed Bohemian landmarks in Manhattan, given that it has been the epicenter of artistic Chelsea and Boho Manhattan for over a century. The long list of notable musicians, writers, and artists who have frequented the hotel’s 125 rooms -- roughly make up half of what is considered artistic New York, give or take -- have produced a slew of homages, from Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel to countless others with less on-the-nose titles. The Chelsea has been adapted into literature, music, art, and film, but now faces a new and perhaps most difficult adaptation, now that the Chelsea landmark has hit the real estate market. It’s strange, but it's true -- once haven to several of the greatest artists ever to call Manhattan home and inarguably the most iconic Chelsea rental listing in history, the Chelsea Hotel is now a prized piece of Chelsea property for sale. The on-the-market status of the Chelsea Hotel is noteworthy both because it's not every day that Manhattan real estate legends hit the market and because of what it means for Chelsea's past, present and future.

Phase Two of the High Line to be Completed Next Spring

Watch out Chelsea: the second part of the High Line will be complete next spring and along with it will come more attention to your luxury Manhattan rentals.  With the first phase of the project already open, alive and bustling with NYC dwellers and tourists alike some 30 feet above Chelsea, this old railway turned public park is a pretty unique part of New York City. Ten more blocks of High Line, running from 20th Street up to 30th Street in Chelsea, promise to deliver the same benefits as the first stretch: unmatched Hudson River views, a lively hangout scene, beautiful local grasses and plants, and -- perhaps most important for Luxury Rentals Manhattan's purposes -- a serious boost for the luxury rental listings lucky enough to sit in the portion of Chelsea nearest The High Line.