Manhattan saw more new lease signings last month than ever before, even as rent prices begin to rebound to pre-pandemic levels
"There were a record 9,642 new lease signings, more than triple the number in the same period last year and the highest total on record since 2008," the report said. As such, the percentage of available housing inventory has dropped considerably in recent months — an over 50% decline from January, according to the report.
"The intensity of demand for new leases at lower rates is so high that it is burning up excess inventory very quickly," Miller Samuel president Jonathan Miller."The market is tightening up from its peak moment of weakness," Miller said,"which was really in the fall through January." With demand increasing and supply declining, the perks that were once being offered to renters during the pandemic — like months of free rent, shorter lease terms, and overall lower rent prices — are rapidly disappearing.
Prices aren't completely back to normal just yet, according to the report: The average home rental price in Manhattan is still down year-over-year by over $100/month.