New York City Luxury Rental Blog

Photo credit: Webster Apartments by Anomalous_A, is liscened under CC by 2.0

Rent prices are on the rise again, with the median rent up 4.1 percent ($4,093) compared to last year, writes Curbed. Jonathan Miller, compiler of Elliman Report has found that the prices for smaller apartments are now rising faster than the top of the market. In Manhattan, the median price for studios and one-bedrooms is $2,270 - that’s 11 percent up from last year, the highest point in seven years! Brooklyn and Queens rent rates are also going up, though at a much steadier rate. The real question is: why are smaller apartment rents going up?

There has been much controversy lately over the room-sharing startup Airbnb which has recently awakened the argument over innovation vs. regulation. Airbnb has been presented itself as one of the most visible players in the “sharing economy” - ahead of services such as Vrbo and Flipkey. These short-term rentals are allegedly depleting the scarce housing market.

The rental market in Manhattan has been on the rise, and is projected to increase phenomenally through 2016. New York is on an ever-impossible quest to meet the demand for more spaces. This has left developers looking for innovative new ways to house the increasing population of singles. Enter My Micro NY, the city’s first micro apartment complex, located at 355 East 27th Street in Brooklyn, with 55 units ranging from 260 to 360 square feet. This building will be leasing its studios this summer for a mere $2,000 to $3,000 a month.

Hampton Court's Garden

Check out this rental in the Hamptons: called the Pearlroth House, and sometimes the Double Diamond House for obvious reasons, this landmark was designed by Andrew Geller back in 1958.  Mr. Geller’s innovative designs were known for incorporating non-traditional elements with context awareness, the latter of which is doubly important for the beach houses for which he’s most known.