Gambling that demand for Big Apple apartments will bounce back and rents will rise in response, some landlords are keeping empty New York City apartments off the market, Business Insider reported.
Last August, landlords had “warehoused” 5,563 flats, according to UrbanDigs, a real estate analysis firm. The number dropped to 1,814 in February, but that remains three times more than a year previous.
Rents in Manhattan plunged 15.5 percent in 2020 and 8.6 percent in Brooklyn and Queens, all record declines, analysis firm StreetEasy said. Manhattan’s median asking rent was $2,750, the lowest since March 2010 during the Great Recession, and many landlords were offering as many as three months’ free rent to lure tenants.
Such deals are likely to ebb as more of the population is vaccinated and workers are scheduled to return to their offices in significant numbers, Chris Schmidt, senior vice president of apartment owner Related Companies, told BI.
That is likely to take the rest of this year, economist Nancy Wu with StreetEasy, commented to BI.
“Rents will continue to be lower than they were a year ago for the full year,” she said. “Even with the vaccine coming, it’s not going to magically make the huge glut of inventory go away. Prices will continue to fall until… more jobs are recreated from the loss of small businesses and the city returns, somewhat, back to where it was before the pandemic started.”
