Greetings from Manhattan, where the average monthly rent reached $5,000 for the first time ever. Ever! It’s not great news, but what fun to live through history.
According to Jonathan Miller of the appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, the jump is in part a product of would-be buyers turning back to the humble lease. “The spike in mortgage rates has immediately tipped people on the margin into the rental market,” Miller told the Real Deal. “And the rental market was already tight before rates began to jump.”
It’s a trend Miller expects to carry into August, at which point things may plateau at whatever level of unaffordable they’ve reached by then. “Barring a recession, I’m not so sure what relief there is for renters, at least for the next year,” he said.
According to the same June report, Manhattan’s median rent — the dead middle of the market — jumped $50 since May, setting a new record of $4,050. History again! It is certainly a time to be alive.
