Rents in Manhattan surged to a new record high in July.
For the typical renter hoping to live in the city, that could mean spending more than half their paycheck on rent alone.
Monthly rents in Manhattan rose to a record-high average of $5,588 in July, according to Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman’s latest rental market report, up 9.3% from the same time last year. The median rent in Manhattan was $4,400 in July, up 6% from a year ago, which is also a new record.
In other words, the average rental in Manhattan will cost $67,056 a year, and that’s excluding other fees that may be required, such as amenity fees — for parking, storage, an in-house gym and other facilities — application fees, broker fees, and so on.
The average rent in July was $3,300 for a studio, the report said, and $4,400 for a one-bedroom. A two-bedroom would cost up to $6,000, and a three-bedroom could cost up to $11,000 a month.
“Price-trend indicators returned to reaching new highs this month after falling short in the prior month,” the report stated.
The average weekly wage for a person working in Manhattan was around $4,064, which translates to over $16,000 a month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manhattan’s weekly wage was nearly three times the national average in the first quarter of 2022, the BLS notes. Financial services workers were among the top earners.
The most expensive place to live in Manhattan? Downtown — home to neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village, Tribeca, Chinatown, as well as the Financial District — where median monthly rents were almost $5,000. The cheapest part of Manhattan was at the northern end of the island, where the median price was $2,925 per month.
The median price for a rental with a doorman was $5,100 per month, but that could rise to $16,000 per month in a luxury building.
The same story of rising rents was reflected across other New York City boroughs, namely in Brooklyn and in Queens.
In Brooklyn, average monthly rents were up 12% from last July, hitting a new high of $4,400. The median rental price rose 16% from last year to $3,950 per month. In Queens, average rents increased 17% from last July, hitting a new high of $4,000. The median rental price rose 16% from last year to $3,600, which was also a new high.