FiDi apartment vacancies down,

Source: Platinum Properties’ 2010 FiDi report

Financial District apartment rents rose, landlords’ concessions began to disappear and the vacancy rate dropped by more than half in the first two quarters of 2010, according to a mid-year neighborhood market report from Downtown-based brokerage Platinum Properties (see the full report below).

Luxury one-bedroom apartments were in high demand, representing 39 percent of all leases completed since January and increasing in price by almost 5 percent — to an average of $3,038 per month — over that time period. Two-bedroom apartments also performed well, registering price increases of more than 3 percent to an average of $4,202 per month.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Because of the decline in vacancies, to 2.17 percent from 4.98 percent in December 2009, leasing transactions also dropped, Platinum said. There were 2,472 individual leases completed in 2009, but the first half of this year saw only 563 leases.

“With rents increasing once again and the vacancy rate exceptionally low, this is clearly a market that is seeing the effects of the extended lease terms that were actively marketed in 2009,” said Daniel Hedaya, executive vice president at Platinum. “With minimal new development on the horizon, we do not anticipate seeing a significant change of course until later this year in September or August when most of the 18-month to 24-month leases are set to expire.” TRD

The FiDi Report 10