Apartment rentals New York with Manhattan Apartments

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.

The ongoing economic recovery is good news both for Manhattan real estate developers and everyone who, you know, participates in the economy. That seems obvious, but it's worth mentioning mostly because all the recovery-related news here at the Luxury Rentals Manhattan job could easily be mistaken for a bummer by people searching for Manhattan rental apartments. Here there's news that NYC dwellers can no longer expect generous concessions on their Manhattan rental apartments. There there's news that Manhattan no-fee rental listings are not-so-gradually becoming an endangered species. Yes, it's good that the economy is apparently bouncing back. But where's the benefit for those looking for a Manhattan rental apartment? Well, it's coming, through what looks like a bumper crop of new construction luxury rental buildings that should arrive over the next year or two.

We obviously spend a great deal of time surveying the market for Manhattan rental apartments here at the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog -- the fact that this is the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog might've been some indication of this. But while there's plenty of good news for NYC dwellers looking for a luxury rental in Manhattan, and we do our best to report it, the one topic we've kept coming back to over recent weeks and months is the decline (or not-decline) of the renter's market in Manhattan real estate. For the time being, we'd describe the renter's market as, if you'll pardon the real estate jargon, "still kind of happening, for the most part." But while prices are still fairly low on Manhattan rental listings, the perks that defined the renter's market at its peak -- from landlords paying fees to highly negotiable listing prices on rental apartments -- seem to be fading into the past. In the Wall Street Journal, Dawn Potapka delivers an obituary for the days of landlords gladly paying fees on Manhattan apartments. Let us bow our heads:

There are a great many reasons to look for a luxury rental in Gramercy Park -- greater Gramercy is a beautiful neighborhood with plenty of nice restaurants, some charmingly low-key nightspots and several really nice rental apartment listings. But as much as we at Luxury Rentals Manhattan love us some Lex Lofts or Park 23, there's one thing that a rental apartment in Gramercy will never boast: access to the actual Gramercy Park. Keys to Gramercy Park are among the most elusive prizes in Manhattan real estate, and even people who own their apartments on Gramercy Park are denied keys. If you don't own one of the 39 town houses surrounding Gramercy Park, the best you can hope for is to look through the high, wrought-iron fence surrounding Gramercy Park's eponymous green space. But will it always be thus?

When Christopher Albanese speaks, the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog listens. This is because Albanese's real estate development company, The Albanese Organization, has developed some truly extraordinary green rental buildings in Battery Park City: the Solaire and Verdesian. Two of the greenest green apartment listings in Manhattan, the Solaire and Verdesian were trend-setters in the burgeoning market for green rental apartments in Manhattan, and happen to be pretty beautiful buildings beside. Given your blogger's admitted soft spot for green apartment buildings, the Solaire and Verdesian are sentimental favorites of a sort, but the apartments for rent at the Solaire and Verdesian are also among the most popular rental listings here at Luxury Rentals Manhattan, so the favoritism isn't entirely sentiment-driven.