Chelsea and Midtown East both saw the highest vacancy rates in New York City last month, according to Citi Habitats.
The real estate firm released a report this month stating that the neighborhoods each have a 1.5-percent vacancy rate while the overall Manhattan rate was at 1.3 percent.
The Chelsea neighborhood has also seen a lot of retail vacancies in the past years — since 2007, Chelsea South had 254,552 vacant square feet with Greenwich Village and SoHo with more — 265,230 square feet of empty space, according to a report by Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office.
Stringer’s report cited the rise of internet shopping, the increase in regulatory hurdles and rising rent.
According to Citi Habitats, as the number of apartment rentals increased for the fourth month in a row, the number of vacancies increased. It’s likely that apartment seekers are resisting the current high pricing, Citi Habitats says.
“Renters are price sensitive and they are doing their research,” explained Gary Malin, the president of Citi Habitats. “With the holiday season approaching, landlords will likely need to add value – through rent adjustments or increased incentives – to drive traffic to their properties versus the competition.”
Rents have risen slightly in both Manhattan and Brooklyn year-over-year but they seem to have stabilized, the company states.
In October, the average monthly rental price for a Manhattan studio was $2,628, with SoHo/TriBeCa leading the charts with an average monthly rent for a studio apartment at $3,990 per month. Chelsea was fourth highest at $2,925 per month. Midtown east was at $,2580 per month.
Brooklyn studio apartments weren’t much cheaper at about $2,568 per month on average with DUMBO as the most expensive neighborhood in October with a median rent of $5,875, followed by Williamsburg at $4,050 per month.
