Renter's Market in Manhattan? You Betcha!
The worm is finally turning in Manhattan’s winner-take-all apartment universe. According to the Manhattan-specific October rental market report released today by Citi Habitats (PDF here), vacancies are up and rents are down, all of which is playing to the advantage of renters who have been at the mercy of not terribly merciful brokers and landlords since, oh, forever.
Vacancies in Manhattan apartments increased from 1.46 in September to 1.71 percent in October, a 12-month high. While Battery Park led all neighborhoods with a vacancy rate of 2.02 percent, vacancies were up in each of the other 10 neighborhoods tracked by Citi Habitats, including always popular neighborhoods like the East Village and the Upper West Side.
There is also some downward pressure on rents, perhaps due to the uptick in idle apartments. Average rents for studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms all fell modestly from September to October. Some neighborhoods are falling faster than others, however, and some of the most severe drops are in surprising locales.
Yes, studio rents fell by over $100 on average in Harlem and the Financial District, but average monthly rents for one-bedroom apartments in the East Village slipped by over $200 from September, falling to $2,481. Average rent for an Upper East Side two-bedroom fell from $3,299 in September to $3,068 in October.
Feel free to laugh in the face of any broker who asks for full commission. Those days are long gone, baby, for now anyway.
does anyone know statistics of the number of doorman buildings in NYC or where i could find this info?
cheers
We have to pay above 5k for a 2 Br in the UES through the end of April, when our lease expires. Is there any tactic that can work negotiating with our managing company before our lease is renewed?
Thanks.
Regarding negotiating lower rent or avoiding rent increases; keep a paper trail and notify landlord of any and all problems with the apt. Use that "list of grievances" when negotiating with the landlord. If you always pay your rent on time and you are a desirable tenant, things should go well.
Play hardball. Get the list of grievances that someone had commented about, and add to that the following: tell him that you are working with a broker and he/she has found you an apartment that is several hundred dollars (pick a number) cheaper than yours, AND they are offering one month free to help with the moving costs. If he asks "where", tell him you do not wish to disclose the exact location, but you will fax him the offer with the address concealed. Trust me, your landlord won't ask you to fax it, and will instead move on to discussing how he can entice you to stay. Use strong language like you are "prepared to move" and maybe even discuss what happens with your security deposit, as this will make it seem like you are serious about leaving. Throw in there too that your household's finances have taken a hit with a layoff. AT THE VERY LEAST, they should offer a 10-15% rate reduction and one half month's free rent as an "inducement". Concessions are in most landlords' budgets, but you need to ask and negotiate for them. If you don't, you're throwing away money. And in this market, you'd be a fool not to throw your tenants a bone.
Re: Hardball post.
What the previous poster suggested isn't such a smart tactic. If you tell your landlord that you've taken a financial hit from a layoff, he'll probably be petrified that you won't be able to pay the rent, and he'll have to go through the time & expense of evicting you. Most landlords facing this dilemna would opt for finding a new tenant.
Then again, what do I know? I'm just a broker.
What kind of idiot pays a broker to find them an apartment? Hubby and I are sitting pretty in a fabulous 2-bedroom/2 bath (with brand new kitchen and baths, plus washer/dryer) with jaw-dropping views, in an excellently-managed luxury rental building in a highly desirable neighborhood. Folks, go straight to the management companies! Fuggeddabout dem brokers!
"fuggeddabout dem brokers"
LOL
@Anonymous 1st Comment:
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I have lived in a Related Rentals building for the last four years. It is 'rent stabilized', 80-20 so the owners get a tax break. Over the four years the rent has increased from $3850 to $5200 due to so called 'preferential rent'.
I have been following the market in my neighborhood for the last six months and the number of empty apartments, lower rents, one month free incentives has skyrocketed. I tried negotiating but management will not move. So now I am.
I found a larger apartment on a much higher floor, in a more desirable location within the neighborhood, with better views ...for $600 a month less--almost a thousand a month less when you add in the one month free rent they're offering.
I guess the larger firms feel they can afford to carry empty apartments over the winter or until the end of this recession rather than come down on individual rents.