Rental markets in Brooklyn and Queens are the most competitive in NYC

New York City tenants experienced a tough time at the beginning of this year as apartments got more expensive and listing inventory continued to decline. Rents across the city rush back to their pre-pandemic levels and, in some cases, climb to new historic records. 

However, the significant jump in rental prices does not seem to impact the demand. In the first quarter of 2022, an average NYC listing spent only 26 days on the rental market, which is a nearly 45 percent decrease from the same period last year, according to the REZI’s Rental Market Report. Surprisingly, the demand for apartments in outer boroughs was stronger than in Manhattan. 

An apartment in Manhattan spent on average 30 days on the market, while residential units in Queens got off the market in about 23 days. The rental market in Brooklyn saw the highest competition among tenants, with an average rental unit staying on the market for only 21 days. The Bronx was an exception. In this borough, an apartment stayed, on average, 36 days on the market, similar to what we saw a year ago.  

“The story for 2022 is really a story about how Queens has become very desirable,” Tom Smith, chief revenue officer at REZI, told Crain’s New York. “People don’t want to leave New York City, but they don’t have to be in the office five days a week.

In addition, REZI suggests that there was a significant number of apartments across New York City that had negative days on the markets, which means they were rented out before they were even listed. The demand for rental units across the city is growing, and so are the prices. 

Manhattan’s rents were the most expensive in Q1 of this year, at an average of $4,226. The average rent in Manhattan jumped 3.5 percent from Q4 of 2021 and 33 percent from last year. Rents in other boroughs followed a similar pattern. Rental prices averaged $3,111 in Brooklyn, $2,546 in Queens, and $2,273 in the Bronx. 

Resources:

“REZI Releases Q1 2022 NYC Apartment Rental Market Insights,” by Rezi (PR News Wire, 2022) 

“Stats and the City: Dwindling ‘days on market’ reflects growing demand for outer-borough apartments,” by Amanda Glodowski (Crain’s New York, 2022)