The Real Deal New York

From the August issue: There was a time when one month’s rent was enough to pay a broker to close a deal on a rental apartment in Williamsburg. But times are changing. As more Manhattanites cross the river, brokers in that Brooklyn neighborhood have capitalized on their new clientele’s bred-in-Manhattan willingness to shell out cash for finding a prime rental. In the last few years, brokers at some of the higher-end rentals have realized that they no longer need to settle for a paltry commission of one month’s rent (around 8.3 percent of an apartment’s annual rent). In many cases, they’ve found that they can charge up to 15 percent of an apartment’s annual rent, and customers will pay it.