Median rent in Manhattan falls below $3,000 for first time in nearly a decade

The median asking rent for a Manhattan home has fallen below $3,000 per month for the first time in nine years, according to a report released Friday from New York City real estate firm StreetEasy. 

The firm’s third-quarter report also marked the first time Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens all recorded year-over-year rent declines since 2010. 

The report comes amid increased vacancies and a struggling rental market since the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City hard earlier this year. 

While the average asking price has decreased, StreetEasy recorded that rental inventory in Manhattan increased by 69.8 percent in the third quarter, with 72,267 new listings added. According to the firm, this figure is nearly 30,000 more than it was at this time last year. 

Rental discounts have also increased, with the median rental discount in Manhattan hitting 9.1 percent, 5.2 percentage points higher than in 2019. 

“Renters are no longer willing to pay the commute premium of living in Manhattan when they do not need to commute to an office five days a week,” StreetEasy economist Nancy Wu said in an announcement on the report. 

“Landlords across the city, but particularly in Manhattan, have to be willing to face some really hard hits if they want to fill their units,” she added. “They’re being forced to cut the location premium out of their asking price in order to compete with larger and more affordable apartments in the outer boroughs.”

New York was one of the states ravaged by COVID-19 in early months of the pandemic in the U.S., with daily increases in the number of infections reaching as high as nearly 10,800 in April, according to The New York Times coronavirus database. 

Since COVID-19 first hit the city earlier this year, Broadway shows, restaurants and other tourist attractions have been forced to shut down, leading to 896,000 private sector jobs lost between February and April, according to the city’s comptroller office. 

The city’s unemployment rate reached as high as 20 percent in July, although the New York City Department of Labor reported that this had fallen to 14.1 percent in September.

While the city has been able to significantly limit the number of new infections in recent months, certain areas, including in Brooklyn and Queens, have had new spikes, prompting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) to implement a two-week closure on nonessential businesses in those communities earlier this month. 

As of Thursday, the New York City Department of Health had recorded a total of 250,489 coronavirus cases, with 58,512 hospitalizations and 19,299 confirmed deaths.