In Manhattan, Rents Are Creeping Back Up
ONE month free!
No — two months free!
Wait — three months free!
Owner-paid commission! Complimentary gym membership! IPod!
The past year has, unquestionably, been a renters’ market in
The good times may be nearing an end. Though rents are still significantly below the level of even a year ago, they are starting to edge up in many neighborhoods. At the same time, some landlords are putting an end to the freebies. Others are considering doing so.
“I just did a lease for a beautiful two-bedroom two-bath on a high floor with Empire State and Chrysler Building views at 37th and Park,” said Leslie Lazarus, a sales associate with DJK Residential, explaining that her client was “one of the last ones to benefit from one month free from the landlord.
“We sat at the lease signing and the agent said, ‘You are lucky — we aren’t going to do that anymore.’ ”
A report released this month by Prudential Douglas Elliman, the brokerage, and Miller Samuel, the real estate appraisal firm, found that the median monthly rent in
Other indicators, including inventory and days on the market, showed signs of stabilization.
“I think we’ve bounced off the bottom,” said Stephen Kotler, the director of sales and an executive vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman.
Marc Lewis, the president of Century 21 NY Metro, sounded a more cautious note, noting that much of the improvement in the early part of the year had come from lower rents and incentives. “When the market shifts and the tenants have to pay the fee again,” he said, “that’s a harder market.”
The next four months will be critical for the market. April 1 through Sept. 1 has traditionally been the busy season for rentals, in part because new college graduates come to town to start jobs and look for places to live. If landlords think they can get away with raising rents, this will be the time to try.
The Glenwood Management Corporation, which operates luxury rental buildings throughout
He pointed to the company’s newest development, a two-tower complex called Emerald Green, as “the most startling sign of improvement.”
When the complex, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the West 30s, opened in September 2009, the company offered two months of free rent to entice prospective tenants. In October, it felt the pace of leasing was brisk enough to reduce the incentive to one free month. And a few weeks ago, after some debate and a deep breath, Glenwood decided to eliminate the free month at Emerald Green. Last week the company put an end to incentives at many of its other buildings.
So where are the deals now?
To get a taste of what’s out there, we went apartment-hunting at the lower end of the
Business does appear to be heating up. A number of properties were leased shortly after we inquired about them. And only a few that we looked at included incentives like a free month of rent or an offer to pay the broker’s fee.
Here’s a look at some of the properties available to renters last week:
$1,000 and Up
But in this market, it’s possible to get a habitable place with a monthly rent in the vicinity of $1,000 in
For $1,000, “you can find a small walk-up studio in
Ryan Edgette, a real estate salesman at CitiHabitats, directs the $1,000-a-month contingent to Yorkville. “It’s slim pickings,” he said as he walked along
He entered an empty ground-floor studio at
The view was far nicer from a 12th-floor studio in a
If something is decent and cheap, it doesn’t stay on the market long.
A $1,225 prewar studio in Carnegie Hill with new appliances was rented before we could see it, as was a $1,150 studio on
Around $2,000
Michelle Edgar, 27, runs her own charity, dedicated to providing music education to underprivileged children. She has been living in a charming but tiny
“It’s hard in my price range,” she conceded.
So, with the encouragement of Ms. Lazarus of DJK Residential, she moved her sights slightly north, to
But although Ms. Edgar was strongly considering putting in an application, she was still holding off last week. “I’m still very stuck to the
Elsewhere in the city last week, surprising variety was available for $2,000 a month, from a two-bedroom fifth-floor walk-up on the
The studio, on the 19th floor of 505W37th, a rental complex in the Hudson Yards neighborhood built by TF Cornerstone, had 550 square feet of space and cost $1,992 a month. It had a sweeping view of the
Incentives are still very much alive in this area, in part because of its glut of new rentals. TF Cornerstone is offering two months of free rent on a 14-month lease. And it is waiving the building’s gym membership fee for the first year.
The complex, still under construction, will have substantial green space. The view from the roof terrace is truly spectacular. Out on the street on a sunny weekday morning, however, the neighborhood looked desolate. Among the few commercial establishments on
Central Park was in full bloom across from 420
The unit was available furnished or unfurnished — or any combination in between, meaning that if you wanted, say, the shelves but not the table and the bed, that would be fine. Colorful cushions made the place look cheery. The galley kitchen was without a dishwasher, but the bathroom had an adjoining dressing area. The building, a prewar condo with 24-hour doormen, was steps from a subway stop.
In a less scenic but more central stretch of the Upper West Side — the noisy corner of Broadway and 96th Street — was a fully renovated one-bedroom in a building with an elevator but no doorman. Rent: $1,850 per month. The unit seemed dark on a cloudy afternoon, but the hardwood floors were pristine. At 214 West 96th, it was a stone’s throw from an express subway stop.
Midblock between York and First Avenues at
Another fifth-floor walk-up, this one in the
At 170 East 94 Street, near
$3,000
During the boom years, $3,000 a month would barely have covered a studio in some neighborhoods. Now there clearly are more choices.
“We used to rent this for $4,000,” said Kim Shepard-Fabrizi, a vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman, surveying the midrenovation disarray of a two-bedroom rental in Hell’s Kitchen at 10th Avenue and West 47th that she said will be available May 1 for $3,100 a month. The landlord is offering incentives; he will pay the broker fee.
Plans are to put in stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops. The wide-plank floors, which were looking pretty worn, will be sanded and stained. The place is in a walk-up building, but it is up only one flight.
When the budget rises to $3,000 a month, choices get interesting downtown. On a great block filled with boutiques in NoLIta, an attractive one-bedroom was listed for $2,975 per month. The apartment, at
Also downtown, at
Renters in the $3,000 range can generally get more space on the
Emerald Green had several large studios for just under $3,000 a month. A couple of blocks west, 505W37th had one-bedrooms for $3,000 flat. These, on the 17th and 23rd floors, had walk-in closets, floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the
At Emerald Green, a fourth-floor “alcove studio” (meaning the bed almost appears to be in a separate room) for $2,750 looked out over a multilevel parking garage, but the windows were huge and the place seemed airy. Amenities included a full-size stacked washer and dryer and a sink with a disposal.
Please click here to read the article on nytimes.com
Copyright © 2010 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Photos should be credited as follows: Photos by Donna Alberico /The New York Times.