The rental market in Manhattan continues to take a beating as the number of new leases signed this year has dropped 58.9 percent from last year, according to a report released Thursday.
The report, conducted by Prudential Douglas Elliman and the appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc., cites rising unemployment and an uptick in purchases by first-time home buyers as contributing factors in the drop in Manhattan leases.
“We saw a significant decline in rental activity from last year,” Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Miller Samuel, told Crain's New York.
New York City's unemployment rate recently hit 10.3 percent, compared to the national rate of 9.8 percent.
The inventory of unrented apartments increased 5.4 percent to 6,527 apartments in the quarter, according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman/Miller Samuel report. That vacancies are expected to grow as unemployment continues to rise, Miller told Crain's.
Landlords are also having a harder time finding rental tenants. Rental apartments are on the market for 77 days compared to 50 days this time last year, according to the report.
“We are looking at a weak rental market over the next year,” Miller told Crain's. “There will also be issues with condo units that weren't intended to be rental that now are.”