found that the overall year-over-year number of rental apartments on the New York City market declined for the first time since 2022., which the survey found across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, spells potential bad news for renters looking to find new housing this spring.
Manhattan rental seekers can breathe a small sigh of relief given the borough’s median asking rent actually fell 1% year-over-year to $4,257 in February, which StreetEasy attributed to slowing competition in the borough. The survey concludes that much of the lack of inventory is due to high up-front costs like broker’s fees, which have risen substantially over the last few years that make New Yorkers much less likely to move apartments., up 29% from 2019 before the pandemic disrupted the market. Beyond the broker’s fee, these expenses can include first month’s rent, a security deposit and various application fees.
Upper Manhattan, extending from Harlem to Washington Heights up and Inwood, is the only submarket in the borough where asking rents increased from a year ago.