Rents Increasing

interesting...

U.S. Apartment Rents Decline as Vacancies at Record, Reis Says
2010-04-06 04:01:00.12 GMT

By Oshrat Carmiel
April 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. apartment rents dropped in the
first quarter and the vacancy rate remained at a record as
unemployment near a 26-year high limited tenant demand.
Actual rents paid by tenants, known as effective rents,
declined 1.5 percent from a year earlier, Reis Inc. said in a
report today. Asking rents fell 1.6 percent, according to the
New York-based property research firm. Vacancies were unchanged
at 8 percent, the highest level since 1980, when Reis began
tracking the number, said Victor Calanog, director of research.
U.S. rental demand has slumped as employers cut 8.4 million
jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007. The
bigger drop in asking rents than effective rents in the first
quarter signals that landlords are pricing their properties
lower at the outset and minimizing concessions, Calanog said.
%u201CLandlords are saying: %u2018Even before we talk about the free
month off, and even before we talk about the free gym, we want
to lower the asking rents to get you through the door,%u2019%u201D he
said in a telephone interview.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.7 percent for the third
straight month in March, the Labor Department said April 2. The
economy added 162,000 jobs in the month, a sign the labor market
may be recovering.
Actual rents fell year over year to an average of $967 in
the first quarter, Reis said. Asking rents dropped to $1,027.

Sequential Growth

Rent rates rose less than half a percent from the previous
quarter, the first sequential growth since the three-month
period when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy.
The net change in occupied space, a measure of leasing
known as absorption, grew by 20,424 units, the most for the
first quarter since 2000, according to Calanog.
%u201CThe perception that labor markets are stabilizing is
probably enough to tip the demand for apartments,%u201D he said.
Effective rents fell the most, year over year, in Las
Vegas; San Jose, California; Phoenix; Seattle; and San
Francisco, according to Reis.
Rents paid by tenants climbed the most in Colorado Springs,
Colorado; Washington, D.C.; San Antonio; and Dayton, Ohio.

"Apartment rents rose during the first quarter, ending five straight quarters of declines and signaling the worst may be over for the hard-hit sector. Nationally, the apartment vacancy rate stayed flat at 8%, the highest level since Reis Inc., a New York research firm, began its tally in 1980."

Hmm. Highest vacancy rate since 1980, yet they claim that rents are RISING.

Wow! Economic magic. Yet again real estate defies all laws of gravity!

A friend was renting a 3-bedroom for $5800 and the LL just reduced their rent to $4400 for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath.

Person could have been over-paying. The stats to look for are new leases and net effective (in case they threw in a month free)

Yeah, funny, this is from TODAY

"U.S. Apartment Rents Decline as Vacancies at Record, Reis Says"

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-06/u-s-apartment-rents-decline-as-vacancies-at-record-reis-says.html

Rents are both up and down,
up from previous quarter and down from a year ago(it's in the aricle)

Curious!

It's hard to tell without looking at the numbers, but I'm wondering if the increase in rents (in NYC) comes from a significant change in composition of the rental market. All of those units built as luxury condos that are now being rented out could command higher rents than existing inventory, creating a small counter-cyclical trend...

So, as those same luxury condo rentals increase the inventory you have the conundrum of increasing vacancies and a small increase in rents.

Rents are both up and down!!!!!! Flmao. Ppl are dead or alive. It's nite or day! It's just too funny.

Manhattan rents are rising. Articles are about the national rental market are nothing more than a waste of bandwidth.

Party's winding down renters! Manhattan rents rise in Feb., Citi Habitats reports

The party’s winding down for Manhattan renters.

Rents rose slightly while vacancy rates continued to tighten in February, indicating a shift in power back to landlords, according to real estate broker Citi Habitats.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2010/03/15/2010-03-15_partys_winding_down_renters_manhattan_rents_rise_in_feb.html#ixzz0kLGJ5xoK

FLMAO
you had me at ......"according to real estate broker Citi habitats."

My building just started a friends and family commission ($1K) for any lease you (civilians) bring them to the building.

Interesting, you bears were not laughing at Citi Habitats when they said rents were down. I remember steve cited their reports like the Bible.

YoY people. YoY. heavy seasonality to rentals. also this year hundreds upon hundreds of law associates arrived in our fair city during the first quarter, having had their start dates postponed.

In my search of rentals in the prime areas, I did see that landlords started "testing" increased rents back in February/March. However, I am now seeing things coming back down since they obviously did not rent at the elevated rents.

My building (High end, NoHo/Bowery) is starting to ask for rental increases. They are asking 3625 for the same unit that I rented for 3500 9 months ago. They are no longer offering a free month to new residents. If they will get 3625...we will see, but no free month is a sign of real firming in the market as far as I am concerned.

"All of those units built as luxury condos that are now being rented out could command higher rents than existing inventory, creating a small counter-cyclical trend..."

You see that in spades in harlem, where ALL the brokerage reports show y-o-y rents up for like 9 months in a row. That is unambiguously unsold luxury condos.

"Manhattan rents are rising. Articles are about the national rental market are nothing more than a waste of bandwidth."

Uhhh, the article did discuss New York! And just like the article, the brokerage reports you cite say y-o-y rents are DOWN in almost all areas of Manhattan, including "prime" Manhattan. They are up month over month, but as we say 5,000,000 times already...seasonality.

Stuytown lowered their rent from $3100 to $2500 and currently $2250....

Market may be bifurcated. Stuyvesant Town has known problems which are front page headlines. On the higher end the pool of renters has been enriched by former owners who still want to be in Manhattan. Someone selling a condo with amenities, will not be happy in a project. Rich kids of foreigners will also rent in a doorman building for perceived safety reasons.

what AR said.

The concessions thrown in a year ago are no longer applicable as leases come up for renewal in the new condo bldgs.

"Rents are both up and down!!!!!! Flmao. Ppl are dead or alive. It's nite or day! It's just too funny."

Or too serious.

"The concessions thrown in a year ago are no longer applicable as leases come up for renewal in the new condo bldgs."

The articles in question INCLUDED concessions in both last year and this year's effective rents. So its an apples to apples comparison.

Of course, if stuff that can't sell is being rented out, and stuff for sale is supposedly higher quality than rental stock, shouldn't that explain some of any "increase"?

"Manhattan apartment rents edge up in 1Q"

"At an average of price of $3,812, the borough's apartment rents are up 0.6% from the fourth quarter but still down 8% from the year-earlier levels."

"“Going into the spring and summer months, the heaviest demand period for rentals of the year, we will see concessions ease,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Miller Samuel.

That means landlords may start to have the upper hand. “In the beginning part of 2009 landlords had to do everything they could to attract tenants, but now they sense that they don't have to anymore,” Mr. Malin said.

Despite the positive news, experts are still concerned over whether the rental market will continue to strengthen. The still-high unemployment rate has a depressing effect on the rental market.

“Unemployment is still too high to project a stronger market,” Mr. Miller said."

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100408/REAL_ESTATE/100409908

You tell'em, Miller.

Manhattan Apartment Renters Winning Price Cuts From Landlords
2010-04-08 04:00:01.3 GMT

By Oshrat Carmiel
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Manhattan apartment rents dropped
6.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as
landlords cut prices to lure tenants.
The median rent fell for all sizes of property except one-
bedroom units, broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and
appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. said today. An analysis by broker
CitiHabitats Inc. showed the average monthly price declined as
much as 7 percent. The company didn’t report median prices.
New York City lost 67,500 private sector jobs last year and
5.4 percent of its finance industry positions in the 12 months
ending in February, according to the state Labor Department.
Fallout from the recession and credit crisis are still rippling
through Manhattan, where 75 percent of the housing stock is
rental.
“With high unemployment it’s premature to suggest that we
know where things are going,” Miller said in a phone interview.
The number of rental transactions surged 16 percent in the
quarter from a year earlier, with 2,663 new leases signed,
according to Miller Samuel and Prudential. Landlords offered
average discounts of 6.4 percent off their initial asking
prices, down from 8 percent in the same period in 2009.
    The declines don’t factor in incentives landlords may offer,
such as a free month’s rent.
“What they do is adjust the rent to where it’s necessary
and then they start offering incentives,’’ CitiHabitats
President Gary Malin said in an interview.
    About half the new leases signed in 2009 came with
landlord-sponsored sweeteners, CitiHabitats said. The proportion
ranged from 48 percent in July to 59 percent in December.

Lots of Extras

    When Jesse Zarouk, 30, was looking for a West Village
apartment big enough for the furniture he accumulated in Los
Angeles, he got a free month’s rent and $150 off the monthly
asking price. The landlord also agreed to tear down a wall and
pay CitiHabitats its commission for finding a tenant. That’s a
fee Zarouk, a vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald, would have
had to pay himself in boom times.
For $3,800 a month he landed a 950-square-foot home (88
square meters) big enough for an L-shaped couch, artwork, four
guitars, a surfboard and a bicycle, he said.
“I think I’ve got a free month in me for the next lease,’’
he said. “I don’t believe any landlord who thinks that the
market is that strong.’’

Prices by Size

The median rent for a Manhattan studio fell 4.8 percent in
the first quarter from a year earlier to $2,048 a month,
according to Miller and Prudential. One-bedroom apartments were
little changed at $3,000. Two-bedrooms declined 7 percent to
$4,645 and three-bedrooms dropped 13 percent to $6,829.
The number of apartments listed declined 31 percent to
5,204, according to Miller Samuel and Prudential.
CitiHabitats estimated the vacancy rate at 1.38 percent in
March, the lowest since August 2008.
The broker based its reports on 2,650 rental deals the
company handled in the first quarter and almost 13,000
transactions it brokered in 2009. Miller Samuel and Prudential
culled information from 2,663 leases recorded by the Real Estate
Board of New York and other sources.

I got a nice 10% chop off my lease in prime Slope, no questions asked. I'm kicking myself I didn't push for more...

no way! brokers and putzface said rents are only going up!!!

Remember how Jim Jones is a big fat liar? Ok, since he works for CORE he is probably not fat, but he still lies like Rush Limbaugh.

Rents are up and down

Down year over year
Up vs prior quarter

Cracks me up how everyone quotes a different stat.

as it's fairly well established that YoY is the number that matters, laugh away RS. and the YoY number is much larger than the other, despite an unusually large number of lease signings for the time of year (as I pointed out the law associates arrived the first quarter this year, greatly inflating lease numbers).

When we talk about inflation or wage increases or GDP growth or a company's earnings growth or revenue increase or same store sales anything else financial or economic its ALWAYS year over year to adjust for seasonality. Always.

And jim jones always lies.