Best time to search for rental?

I do high-end rentals but I don't specialize in the East Side -- maybe Jacky Teplitzky of Elliman? She's generally a sales broker, but I think she might do this too, and she's an East Side specialist.

How far in advance you need to go will depend on the building -- it's a little Catch-22 because you won't see much inventory till 45 days ahead, if that, but many buildings will take 30 days to approve you.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

The best prices are now-ish. Dec-March. The most inventory but worst prices is July-September. Strange, but true. Its based on the new hires cycle.

This question is a double edged sword.
As a near 15 year renter in manhattan,I started out as a March/April yearly leaseholder as this time period saw the most inventory for a variety reasons.However by year 4 I went with an 18 month lease to get me in the October/November cycle.
Reason being many reasons.

Rents for the most part in this 15 year cycle grew stronger every year so a very strong (LL side) market had landlords at a position of strength. Being in one of the hot point months for yearly leases meant landlords were offering freshly vacated and easy to turn units making negotiation difficult and on renewal far more difficult with so much competition by other renters on the market.
By switching to Oct/Nov, yes I diminished my choices but I far more diminished my competition. Who's looking for an apartment with Thanksgiving coming up? So the choice for a smart landlord is take 10% off from me or stay empty 2 maybe 3 months and lose 20%. Also availabilites during these "off" months are likely to unusual vacancies and a landlord is happy to just "have someone in."

Now this also works in reverse during a terrible rental market(for LLs) like 2009/2010. Then you want to be looking during the "hot" months to get the most concessions because of all the competition.

Market condition is a variable that must be considered for this question.

Agree with Ali, more than 45 days ahead will mostly be wasteful.However if you have time on your hands, it could be useful to view units in large rental buildings to see if you'd like or dislike that building ahead of time, and rule in or rule out units to see there 90 days away, etc.

In my last search, I e-mailed all 16 rental agents who had a listing in my search criteria. Only 6 got back to me in 24 hours. One was rented (well, "application pending"), I saw the other 5 places (it took a week), then the agent with the rented place called with a new listing, which I applied for the same day and got.
Even if you intend to use a renter's broker, it might not be a bad way to interview and educate yourself at the same time. I was ready to rent a month in advance for the right place, so I started looking 60 days before the actual "must have an apartment now." As it turned out, the place we rented was advertised about a month and a half before it would be available, so it worked out perfectly.

nybits.com covers the UES very thoroughly--chk it out before you pay a broker--and use streeteasy--so easy to search

For condos, look 45 days in advance. For coops, look 60 days in advance. I don't think "plentiful inventory" is important. This is not Ohio, the inventory is deep year-round at all price points. What you're looking for is "plenty of well-priced inventory", and the best time for that is for a Dec 1 or Jan 1 start date. Absolutely no one wants to move on Jan 1, which is going to give you the best pricing. However, the fear of Jan 1 makes Dec 1 possibly a better date.

Yeah, it does not hurt to use the interwebs 45 days out. Or a broker if you are new to NYC and don't have time to look.

Have you considered using the Wayback Machine? Courtesy of Internet Archives, you can find one apartment 9 months ago for only $4K that would cost $2MM to purchase. Good luck!