After all the cheering for the good news coming out of the Manhattan real estate sector in June, the good spell for the housing market has continued through to July as well. The latest report by real estate firm Citi Habitats reveals that the vacancy rates for apartments in Manhattan have risen to 1.2 per cent, an increase that bodes well for those hunting homes in the city. The highest vacancy rates were seen in the East Village with 1.65 percent, followed closely by the Upper West Side with 1.56 percent and Murray Hill with 1.52 percent. Once again, people looking for homes in the city are at an advantage, and should make use of this time wisely to find their dream homes.

Recent reports of rents shooting up in New York City may be a cause of concern for several home-hunters in the city, but there is also a privileged class of New Yorkers who are willing to shell out a lot of dollars to be able to live in luxury and style. Rents for such palatial homes can range from $30,000 to a staggering $60,000 a month, but the costs don’t seem to worry this elite and exclusive group. For them, maintaining the standard of luxury living they are used to is far more important than worrying about the number of figures in their rent checks.

Tough economic times have caused New Yorkers to tighten their purse strings, and some of the ones bearing the brunt of these hard times are New York’s real estate brokers. In a recent survey conducted by Rent.com, four out of ten New Yorkers said that they would not like to pay a broker’s fee when they look for an apartment. In a city where finding a rental is often fraught with difficulties, city residents don’t seem to want to have the broker’s fee added on to their list of expenses. The broker’s fee is typically about 15 percent of an apartment’s yearly rent, but with the double whammy of a surge in rents and a dip in vacancies in the city, New Yorkers are holding on to all their dollars to make sure they can afford their homes.

When trying to rent a space in a market as competitive as New York City, reputation can oftentimes make or break the deal. Despite a reputation as out of the way and gritty, Alphabet City is proving otherwise, going against the grain and raising areas such as Avenue D to exciting new levels. Perhaps it's the economic pressure created by Manhattan's historically high rents, but many younger renters are turning to Alphabet City to find affordable rentals and are finding that the neighborhood is both hip and safe. Part of the reason that rental apartments in Alphabet City stayed so affordable for so long was that people perceived it as being dangerous, although today that perception is outdated and, frankly, downright false, and has been for years. The 90s saw a shift in the neighborhood environment, and along with these newly restored districts came increasing real estate projects promising to enhance the value of the apartments in Alphabet City.