New York City Luxury Rental Blog

Last week’s Hurricane Sandy left many New Yorkers without food, water, power and most of all, without a home. Mayor Bloomberg instated safety precautions in which residents in “Zone A” across the city were mandated to evacuate their building’s to prepare for the life-threatening disaster that was to come. Now, a week later, New Yorkers are trying to recover from the storm but many residents are still displaced. Some residents have long waits of weeks and months before returning to their homes. There are few residents who have no clue as to when they can return to their place of rent due to a lack of communication from building managers. With so many New Yorkers still displaced, the question of how rent payments are being handled lingers in the air.

If you are looking for a new apartment in Manhattan, chances are that you are going to be looking for homes in neighborhoods like the Upper West Side or Greenwich Village. After all, these are the neighborhoods that are enjoying a lot of buzz, thanks to both the quality of the homes in the area, as well as the livability of the area itself. Having said that, the apartments here won’t come cheap, since rents, after all, are so closely correlated with the reputation of the neighborhood. But there are exceptions to the rule—there are some Manhattan neighborhoods that are currently on the upswing, and the rents there haven’t shot through the roof—yet.

Yes, we are talking to you, Robert De Niro. We were really very sorry to hear about the June fire that destroyed the apartment at 88 Central Park West you and your lovely wife, Grace Hightower, lived in. But, as with all other things, one must move on, and we heard that you are looking for a new luxury rental apartment to live in, as your original home gets renovated and restored. However, as with many other New Yorkers, we heard that you too were having trouble finding an apartment that met all your needs.

Rents in Manhattan have been soaring over the past few months, with several rental records being broken and New York City’s real estate sector enjoying a flurry of activity. But the most recent market report released by Citi Habitats suggests that the surge in rents is finally taking a breather, with average rents stabilizing in September as compared to August. In some neighborhoods the rents have actually dipped slightly too. However, there’s a catch—while the rents have plateaued, they're still holding strong at their extremely high rates. Additionally, landlord concessions for rental apartments such as a month without rent or no brokerage fees are now more rare than they've ever been, indicating that Manhattan renters don't need extra incentives to sign a lease.

For New Yorkers, the refusal of rent-stabilization begs indignation, shock, or simply confusion. In the Financial District, apathetic responses to the option to convert units in eligible buildings to rent-stabilized apartments has become an unusual phenomenon. Up to 16 Lower Manhattan apartment buildings received tax breaks since 2006, requiring the apartments to be rent stabilized. Under the Section 421-g Program, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development designated the Lower Manhattan Abatement Zone, defined as the area south of the centerline of Murray, Frankfort and Dover Streets as an area eligible for partial exemption and abatement.