Manhattan Multifamily Report – Summer 2019
Manhattan’s multifamily market is powering through, bracing for sustained development amid regulatory uncertainties and already deep affordability issues.
Manhattan rent evolution, click to enlarge
Although it remains a poster child for the country’s affordability crisis, Manhattan’s rental market is powering through, bracing for sustained development while rates continue to inch up. The average Manhattan rent was up 1.0 percent year-over-year through April, mainly driven by gains in upscale assets, while occupancy remained among the highest in the U.S.
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New York City job gains decelerated and trailed the U.S. average in the 12 months ending in March. Nonetheless, employers still added 103,300 positions during this time, with more than half in education and health services. While smaller, non-coastal tech metros across the U.S. continue to expand at a much faster rate than in New York City, the city remains one of the country’s top economic juggernauts and, at the same time, one of the most stable and relatively safest real estate havens.
Manhattan sales volume and number of properties sold, click to enlarge
Manhattan remained a top destination for institutional and crossborder investors looking to deploy large sums, and the multifamily sector is no stranger to this. More than $1 billion in multifamily assets traded in the first quarter of 2019, following last year’s $3.4 billion. With 12,150 apartments slated to come online across the metro this year amid regulatory uncertainties and already deep affordability issues, we expect the average overall New York City rent to advance only 0.7 percent in 2019.
