New York City Luxury Rental Blog Archives for October 2013

Though office-to-residential conversions have certainly been popular in recent years, it’s not every day that a landmarked skyscraper is turned into luxury apartments. Rumors of the vacant 70 Pine Street floated for years, but the details have finally been released.

What do developers do when their condominiums remain vacant? They turn them into luxury rentals, of course. At least, that’s what developers across the country decided to do during the recession. When the recession hit, foreclosure was one of the most feared words, leading to a hike in the number of people choosing to rent, which triggered higher monthly rents.

Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, landlords are moving in the other direction, converting their rentals into condos, indicating recovery in the sales market. Tenants are even going out of their way to ask landlords if they can buy their apartments.

The latest report is in, and according to Elliman, the median manhattan rental price finally decreased for the first time since June 2011. The median rent for an apartment in Manhattan slipped 3.1% from the same month last year, down to $3,095 per month in September. The numbers weren’t straight across the board, however. In year-over-year numbers, there was a slight price decline in studio and one-bedroom apartments, while there was an increase in price for two- and three-bedroom apartments.