Manhattan Rents Continue To Slide As North Brooklyn's Jump

Welcome to January's analysis of all things rental in Manhattan and Brooklyn. According to appraiser and Elliman Report compiler Jonathan Miller, the trend is your friend. Let's start in the isle of Manhattan, where the median rental price decreased year-over-year for the fifth consecutive month. Be warned, JMillz adds, that doesn't mean they're low, by any stretch of the word—median rents dipped 1.1 percent to $3,114/month—and they're likely to plateau soon rather than keep dropping. The subtle slip doesn't mean it's any less hard out there, and more renters are signing lease renewals than attempting to find new apartments, so new rental activity fell.

Brokerage MNS recorded an increase in average Manhattan rents compared with December, specifically a 2.07 percent rise to $3,833. (Median rents are typically a more useful barometer than average ones, but it's good to have al the data at hand, no?) MNS's report helpfully breaks down the rental trends by neighborhood, noting that average rents are rising the most for various kinds of units in Harlem, Murray Hill, Midtown West, Chelsea, and FiDi.

Meanwhile, over in Brooklyn, rental trends rolled right on, continuing their upward trend. The Elliman Report tracks median prices in northern and northwestern Brooklyn, which jumped 12 percent year-over-year to $2,830/month. There's also an incredible number of new rental units coming to market: 442 in January, a 33.5 percent increase from one year prior. Adds Miller, "The spread between Brooklyn median rents and Manhattan median rents is the narrowest in five years."

Again, let's look at Brooklyn neighborhood-by-neighborhood with MNS. From December to January, average rents increased 1.62 percent to $2,629/month. Despite the overall pattern of up, up, up, rents for studios in Dumbo actually dropped despite the fact that it's still the most expensive place to rent in Brooklyn, showing that to really understand these trends, it's important to zoom into particular neighborhoods that are driving the borough-wide trends.

· January - 2014 Manhattan And Brooklyn Rentals [Elliman]
· Manhattan Rental Market Report: January 2014 [MNS]
· Brooklyn Rental Market Report: January 2014 [MNS]
· All Rental Market Reports coverage [Curbed]
· Market Reports archive [Curbed]