Manhattan apartment leasing down 59% in year

By Amanda Fung

Published: October 8, 2009 -Rising unemployment and an increase in purchases by first-time home buyers have combined to diminish the number of new apartment leases signed in the third quarter to levels 58.9% below those of a year earlier, according to the latest Manhattan rental market report, released Thursday...

In a separate third-quarter report issued earlier this week by CitiHabitats, the city's largest rental brokerage, the firm noted average rents may be down by five to seven percentage points more after factoring in those concessions. The brokerage underscored that the level of concessions varies hugely from neighborhood to neighborhood.

“We knew rental prices had to come down given the economy,” said Gary Malin, CitiHabitat's president.

Overall apartment vacancy rates in Manhattan notched up to 1.8% in September from 1.4% the same time last year, according to CitiHabitat. But Mr. Malin noted that the vacancy rate is not as high as many had feared it would be after last year's collapse of Lehman Brothers and the chaos in the financial markets.

“Landlords have been smart to react to market conditions,” he said. “And Manhattan remains a place people want to gravitate to....”