BPC Rentals - Prices Raised in Past Month?

I still see more declines than inceases for all Manhattan areas on my daily streeteasy email alerts. Like 4-1.

Is this year-over-year or just compared to the previous months. I think you should expect to see some reduction of inventory as we move into the strongest rental season. Landlords are probably trying to eke out some increases here and now, knowing this is likely their one shot to do so this year.

I've seen no increases in rents anywhere. They have held about constant since Feb.

Any chance ppl can post real info about BPC please?
Not simply, I have seen no increases anywhere or 4 to 1 declines for all Manhattan.
OP has even noticed price increases on your favorite site Steve.
family guy was the only one to have actually understood the point of the post.

After the thread where I recommended bpc to someone looking for 2br/2baths with w/d in unit I started to search for rentals in the Solaire because it's a building I know. I was pretty surprised to see a dearth if units so it would be interesting to get input from others that know this hood (perhaps these guys? http://downtowny.blogspot.com/) or have friends in the buildings. I know people who lived in the Solaire who were very knowledgeable about the different rents being offered, how much the preferential rent was vs the legal rent etc. and that kind of info would be helpful in this particular thread instead of "nope - no increases where I look".

I looked at rentals in several buildings. I did not look at the year over year numbers but when I went to look, most of the rental-only buidings were offering concessions right off the bat (1-2 months). In some cases, I actually saw the rent drop after I looked at units. So I would highly doubt prices are going up.

I think some of the stronger landlords may be holding back inventory, or at least not actively advertising it. I keep seeing ads (on here, even) for Rockrose and yet when you go to their web site there is almost nothing available. Just like the sellers' brokers are trying to obfuscate, I think that the rental brokers and management companies may be doing the same (more so even).

i have followed a number of buildings for years, and some of them have surprisingly low levels of inventory, for any time. they may be only publically releasing a few, to reduce inventory levels, and would be willing to rent more if those filled. they are obviously hoping for summer demand, which will, in my opinion, not appear at anything other than a significant net decrease from next year.

Gateway had been dumping a ton of apartments on the market for a few months earlier this year, which skewed the numbers for several months. I have noticed Brodsky trying to get more for 2 bed/2 bath (up to 4500 from 3800), but since they don't give you floorplans anymore, I don't know if it's a particularly desirable unit. Prices are down all over from this time last year, but I think up marginally from the depths of winter. It's possible that, as aboutready suggests, the buildings may have decided to get saavy about controlling the appearance of inventory.

I live in BPC and my rent got reduced by 10% without any negotiating. Still not renewing my lease though.

Just think: A lot of people leaving the city, and comps are down across the board, and little job security. Is this a recipe for rents going up? Most buildings do not advertise their full inventory, and the listed prices are just that: Listed. When you walk into any of them, the actual price is a couple of hundreds lower, with 1-2 months free rent. Rents in Tribeca/BPC are down at least 20% from last year, period.

I don't think a year-to-year comparison is valid in this market. Yes, rents are definitely down, but things were still flying high this time last year during the halcyon pre-meltdown days. I tend to believe that rents kinda bottomed out in the March-April time period and have risen a bit since then for whatever reason. But it will be interesting to see what happens starting in June, when the college kids are really out of the system once and for all. I'm still not anticipating a huge influx of new grads.

aboutready may be right about them holding units off the market. It is what I would do if I were them and could. I have also heard this from at least one downtown broker. If it is the case, I would also expect them to take any reasonable offer.

I agree with sfre on the discounts to last year with a range of 15-25% in Tribeca and more in BPC when you include concessions.

This was a comparison from the depths of Winter (Jan/Feb) to May....and in retrospect may have been better worded as the rate of change has slowed or stopped and the median rose a bit as the low priced inventory had been absorbed. Y-O-Y prices have declined; Im not a resi-broker and so dont have lists of year over year comparisons but from the units my friends have taken and discussions with them in the neighborhood, it appears to be about 20% once free months and other concessions are factored in; the ask vs take (from the peak) on condos is even more dramatic as the rental companies can amortize whatever hit they get on (often) thousands of units vs. the owner thats getting crushed

The points here in this thread are all spot on...the trend is still down, LLs lie about inventory, etc. In fact Ive had had much personal experience here with 2 different buildings. They should relaize how dangerous a game that is - a good friend of mine almost brought a legal challenge to the allocation of apts as one she was told was not available was almost immediately rented to someone else - while it was vacant the whole time of inquiry - and had the appearance of discriminatory preference

For specifics....inventory is down....streeteasy used to have 8-12 2br/2ba apts priced at $4,000 or less in BPC. The number lately has been 4-6 (today 6); the total 2br/2ba offered in BPC used to be in the 120s-130s; it is now 105, but the sample is skewed by the various offerings of condos that arent selling in bulk (& there I have seen 3br/3ba $12-$14K asks fall to $8-$9K). nybits used to have 10-15 2br/2ba $4,000 or less.....most of them Gateway (indeed dumping a lot of apts...they dont even bother to renovate the unrenovated ones anymore I believe); that number had fallen to 5...but is now back at 11. More importantly, they appear to have broken the $3k barrier on a (claimed) 2BR/2Ba...but they no longer give you unit number (they used to couple months ago)

I think the point in context is the trend is still down, inventory will tighten a bit during/heading into the peak relo season...and come the Fall...the roller coaster begins again

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/rental/509481-rental-88-leonard-street-tribeca-new-york

Throw in a free month, and you are sub-4000 for "prime" tribeca.

The occupancy rate for the EastCoast buildings in LIC are at 90%. Give them a call and see if you can get 1 month free....
:)

http://www.eastcoastlic.com/
877-LIC-8777

So I haven't followed the ups and downs for some time, but our BPC lease is up Dec. 1 so I figured I would take a (an early) look.

While I am not sure if this is indicative of any trend or additional meaning can be extrapolated, I am a fan of empiricism, so I will post limited primary research. It amounts to some sort of bifurcation - in both inventory and pricing at the low end, which for me was easier to track quickly than all the games played with the $5,500 re-listed at 4,800, raised to 5,200 etc apts.

From above posts in May, SE used to have 8-12 sub $4,000 true 2br/2ba apts (no studios masquerading as 'flex 2s' courtesey of the downtown rental bucket shops that had proliferated in the boom). Over the past week, that number has fluctuated between 0-2 (ignoring persistent double posts at 280 Rector). They're all gone.

The total 2br/2ba offered in BPC in SE used to be in the 120s-130s in the Spring, above in May it was 105, today it is 88, about 15% less and 25+% off peak. Perhaps the Summer rush has filled space

*However*, over on nybits, the number of Gateway apts (still not showing apt unit numbers like they used to this Spring) which had fallen to 5 and then grew to 11 now stands at 22, and nearly all of the are under $3,300. The leasing office confirms $3,300 is the bottom 2br/2ba pricing for a renovated unit. The ones costing less (down to 2,800 or so) are unrenovated. The market is bad enough now they are not bothering to renovate units anymore from what I heard as well.

Sadly I fear the headlines pronouncing the Recession is over or at an imminent end end may encourage some to hold out or ignore reality. I've already spoken with a broker at 30 West who has a couple of clients who will not drop price after 4-6 months, instead waiting for their 'number'. I will never understand waiting for your number while forgoing tens of thousands in rent when the reality was it would have just cost a few hundred a month - 'feelgood' money

My only other thought is the current pricing doesnt reflect the offering of concessions which are not publicized in these venues - eg, even the Albanese gang (Solaire/Verdesian) is offering free months and OPs on their still overpriced ($58 PSF headline average, but dont forget those 1,200 SF apts are really 1,080 SF net) product...and for anyone who knows the neighborhood, they have a rep for being pretty hard core in not really negotiating, not really caring, etc.

So there it is FWIW. Lower end inventory is down sharply, and little market appetite exists for apparently inferior/unrenovated product at Gateway - and admittedly the unrenovated units at Gateway get as much bad press on review sites as Brittany Spears

I think it could be Dec before we see resolve breaking amongst the holdouts here...

BPC also--essentially due to its location and microclimate--does extremely well in the warm weather and not so well in the cold. People can't fully appreciate just how insanely cold and windy it gets down there, and yet in the nice weather people get absolutely charmed with the beauty and the river and the foliage.Some of the rental buildings were offering OP AND 2 months free AND "moving expense bonus" during the winter when they had enormous amounts of inventory. They positioned themselves well--particularly as summer began to approach--to clear out their inventory, and they did. Now Rockrose for example--at least as of a couple weeks ago--had very little availability and in fact was offering either OP OR one month free. Not both. I suspect as the chill approaches--even all other economic considerations notwithstanding--that there will be more flexibility.Had I been a private owner trying to rent a unit in one of the condo buildings, I would have sucked it up and accepted some lowball offer while the weather is still nice, because we all know down there that noone wants to rent there after the season. That may have cleared inventory temporarily. Even if the market were to fully recover, there will be alot of opportunities in the rental buildings over the winter because so many of the people who rented at such ridiculously great deals will choose to vacate. Looking in late october--november should yield some good opportunities.

I live in BPC, north of the WFC. Our rent on a 3BR/2Ba was reduced for our renewal on July 1 without our requesting it. We are on a high floor with city & water view & have about 1,800 sqft.

Surmise what you wish from this information, but it is "real" info.

And, yes, it is freakin' cold here in the winter! Windy & isolated too.

In many cases, whenever a landlord converts from a fee to a no-fee apt., they raise the rent to make up for the commission they now have to pay the realtor.