On behalf of The Real Estate Group, I am pleased to present the August 2008 edition of our Manhattan Rental Market Report, the only research on the city’s rental rates published on a monthly basis. I often used to hear about this common consensus that, when the sales market deteriorated, the rental market would grow stronger and vice versa. And while this symbiosis may have existed in the past,... [more]
On behalf of The Real Estate Group, I am pleased to present the August 2008 edition of our Manhattan Rental Market Report, the only research on the city’s rental rates published on a monthly
basis.
I often used to hear about this common consensus that, when the sales market deteriorated, the rental market would grow stronger and vice versa. And while this symbiosis may have existed in the past, the current rise in unemployment rates and curtailment in the creation of new jobs seems to be negating this widely accepted principle. In short, the Manhattan real estate market, as a whole, is down.
Landlords may have been hoping to stop offering incentives by the end of July, however, the concessions continue and, in addition, it seems that they took our suggestion from last month to heart and lowered their prices. Thankfully, inventories are also down across Manhattan this month, which indicates that there is still a demand for
housing if apartments are priced well. As demonstrated last month, concessions alone don’t appear to be enough to entice renters; in this defl ated market, many Manhattan dwellers are now looking to the outer boroughs, where they might pay the same amount they were formerly paying, but would receive more in return. That being the
case, I strongly urge all Manhattan landlords to be conservative with their asking rents, keeping in mind that the summer will soon draw to a close and vacancies may only increase further. If and when this happens, they should be prepared to lower prices accordingly, as this seems to be the key to keeping inventories at a similarly low level.
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