Manhattan’s rental prices continued to rise last month, but there may be some relief for renters with rising vacancy rates, according to three real estate reports issued Thursday.
The surveys by the real estate groups MNS, Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats found the average rent for the borough reached record highs in July. Elliman and MNS’s surveys had Manhattan rents close to $4,000 a month while Citi Habitat saw rents average near $3,500.
At the same time, the real estate groups showed a jump in the number of available Manhattan apartments, which will help lighten the load and curb the price growth, according to experts.
“The Manhattan rental market seems to have reached its tipping point,” Gary Malin, the president of Citi Habitats, said in a statement.
Elliman’s report had the highest Manhattan average rent with $4,031 last month, a 0.2% jump July 2014. Among the factors that contributed to the higher prices, according to Elliman, was a lack of available units during the spring.
The number of new rentals went from 4,938 in July 2014 to 5,540 last month, a 12.2% increase, according to Elliman.
MNS, which only surveys rentals priced under $10,000 a month, found the average rent in July in Manhattan was $3,963, which was 2% higher than the July 2014 average of $3,873. Harlem saw the largest rent jump over the year, going from $2,339 in July 2014 to $2,757 last month.
MNS said Harlem had the greatest increase in inventory, with an 18.2% jump.
Citi Habitats reported the lowest average rent for Manhattan in July with $3,501, a 1% increase from the $3,465 average in July 2014.
Its report indicated that the borough’s vacancy rate was 1.42% last month, which represented a .17% increase from the same period last year and the third straight month in which the vacancy rate rose.
Elliman and MNS also found rising rents in the outer boroughs.
Brooklyn rents increased 4.3% from $3,111 in July 2014 to $3,245 last month while apartments in northwest Queens surged 12.7% from $2,709 last year to $3,054 last month, according to Elliman.
MNS’ survey found Brooklyn had an average rent in July of $2,730, a 2% increase from July 2014 average of $2,670. Over in Queens, average rents decreased slightly from $2,113 in July 2014 to $2,104 in July 2015, a 0.4% dip.
