Apartment rentals New York with Rental Trends

Apartment rents in New York City have been falling for the past few months, and if a new report by real estate marketing consultant Nancy Packes is to be believed, the market is being kept affordable thanks to the influx of new renters, who, thanks to their lower incomes, are forcing landlords to keep rents cheap in the city. These new renters, who are mostly young and employed in creative pursuits like art, design and technology, are flooding into the city, and they are emerging as the ones controlling the rent swings in New York City.

There was some debate at the end of July when people wondered if rising rents in Manhattan had finally reached their zenith and would perhaps come tumbling down in August. After all, like many said, once you reach the top, you can only come down. Well, the numbers are out now and it seems that “the top” has not yet been reached! Apartment rents in New York City continue their upward rise, and the rental market is as robust and vibrant as ever. The numbers showcase this trend best: rents for studio apartments saw an increase of 1.2%, and one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments saw increases of 1.4% and 0.9% respectively.

The Tribeca neighborhood is home to some of the most expensive apartments for rent in Manhattan. According to the MNS December rental market report, rent in Tribeca has consistently out priced nearly every neighborhood since December 2010. Only apartments in Soho cost more than those in Tribeca, and even then it's only one- and two-bedroom apartments in doorman buildings that do. Non-doorman buildings are more expensive across the board in Tribeca. Which brings us to the focus of this article, and one of New York's more peculiar trends: the triangle south of Canal Street is the only neighborhood in Manhattan where apartments for rent in non-doorman buildings are more expensive than apartments in buildings that have doormen. Tribeca studio apartments in non-doorman buildings have been more expensive than their doorman counterparts every month since December 2010. And one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments without doormen have likewise cost more almost as consistently. In December 2011, having a doorman with your two-bedroom apartment saved you over $1,000. And a doorman welcoming you into your studio shaved nearly $800 off your rent.

Rent hikes. A stale array of Manhattan apartment listings. That’s the rental market scene NYC-apartment-hunters stretching from Harlem to FiDi have been testifying to. The continuing drag in the new-development pipeline (a repercussion of the 2008 stock market crash) coupled with some of the lowest vacancy rates the city has ever seen have dispersed most incentives for landlords to keep rents low. But although rent is up across the board, where in the city is the priciest? The two neighborhoods that take the cake are among Manhattan’s most popular -- the gilded Bohemian paradise that is SoHo, and chic, strutting Tribeca, where trends are born.