Manhattan Multifamily Report – August 2024
The borough is one of the nation’s best-performing markets right now.
Manhattan came out strong in the first half of the year, with most fundamentals above national levels. Average advertised asking rents were up 0.7 percent on a trailing three-month basis through June, to $4,941. New York City recorded the strongest year-over-year rent growth, at 4.8 percent, with Manhattan matching the city, well above the 0.6 percent national rate. Meanwhile, occupancy in the borough remained positive, at 97.8 percent, as of May.
NYC unemployment was 4.4 percent as of May, preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Although this was up 20 basis points year-over-year, it highlighted the metro’s continued post-pandemic recovery. The city added 107,300 net jobs in the 12 months ending in April, which marked a 1.1 percent expansion of the workforce and lagged the U.S. figure by 30 basis points. Education and health services, the city’s largest sector, gained 106,200 jobs, while information (-16,000) and professional and business services (-11,600) saw significant losses.
Development has slowed down in Manhattan, as some companies are concentrating on completing large projects that began a few years ago. No properties of more than 50 units came online in the first half of the year, while construction starts amounted to 2,617 units—on par with last year. Meanwhile, investment improved, with $621 million in multifamily sales, marking a year-over-year improvement and bucking the national trend of declining activity.
