Manhattan apartment rents soared to a record high in February amid intense competition, including bidding wars in a more than a quarter of all deals.
New leases were signed at a median of US$4,500 last month, according to appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman. That’s up 6.4 per cent from a year earlier, and US$100 more than the previous record, reached in the summer of 2023.
It’s an eye-opening increase for the middle of winter, a time when the rental market historically was expected to cool. But renters have gotten little relief in the past three years. New lease signings rose annually for the 11th consecutive month in February, and Manhattan’s vacancy rate fell for a fourth time.
