Average rents in Manhattan (courtesy: Citi Habitats)

The Manhattan rental market continues to display a “strange dichotomy,” as Douglas Elliman’s director of rentals Mark Menendez put it, with rents unseasonably strong at the high end, and both renters and landlords believing they can do better in other market segments. In December, the median rent for a Manhattan apartment rose 0.8 percent year-over-year, to $3,150 from $3,125 per month, according to Douglas Elliman’s December rental report, released today. [more]

Average rents by neighborhood, per Citi Habitats

Sky-high rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn are meeting continued resistance, as the pace of median rent increases slows and an increasing number of renters are choosing to move instead of renewing their leases, reports on November’s rental market show.

In Manhattan, rents, which reached a median of $3,195 in the borough last month, were propelling renters to the sales market, said Jonathan Miller, president of the real estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel and author of Douglas Elliman’s November rental report. [more]

Manhattan

The market for residential rentals in Manhattan is robust, the inaugural monthly rental report from Prudential Douglas Elliman reveals. The average number of days a Manhattan apartment spends on the market year-to-date — 39 per listing — is the lowest average since Jonathan Miller, the author of the report, began tracking rental data 20 years ago. Last year in September, that number was 55, the report shows. [more]

Rado Varchola

Rado Varchola, a top broker at Citi Habitats, joined Nest Seekers International today, The Real Deal has learned. Citi Habitats named Varchola the Top Individual of the year by overall production and Top Individual of the year in sales in 2011.

Varchola, whose business is focused on Manhattan sales, said he was attracted to Nest Seekers for the brokerage’s emphasis on sales, rather than rentals, as well as its “high quality” marketing materials and advertising campaigns. [more]

Source: Citi Habitats

Manhattan residential rental rates reached a new all-time high for the sixth consecutive month, according to Citi Habitats’ latest rental report but there could be some signs of relief in sight. The vacancy rate stood at 1.19 percent last month, the highest it has been in the month of August, typically the peak of the rental market, in three years. In August 2011, for example, the vacancy rate was 1 percent.

This marks the second straight month of relatively high vacancy rates, which could be a sign that renters are balking at higher prices. [more]

Dave Goldstein of Citi Habitats with his dog Luca

Before making the transition into real estate two months ago, Dave Goldstein, 33, spent his days pursuing his passion: rescuing dogs scheduled to be euthanized. Now the Citi Habitats broker is capitalizing on the “quickly developing niche” of helping people with large dogs or pit bull-type dogs get into buildings that would otherwise keep out these canines. Goldstein, who had first attempted to go into real estate right before the market turndown, spoke recently with The Real Deal about the non-profit dog rescue organization that he started with his wife, how he’ll apply what he’s learned to selling real estate, and, a quintessentially New York problem, how to get your dog past a difficult co-op board. [more]

Citi Habitats, as part of its ongoing rebranding effort, this morning unveiled its new logo, colors and branding to its agents who had gathered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in Midtown.

Advertising and design firm Amaratti designed the new materials, which are black and white with touches of yellow (see video after the jump for images of new signage and office fronts). The process of picking a firm and designing the new imaging took around eight months and required a “substantial” monetary investment from the firm, according to Citi Habitats President Gary Malin…. [more]

From left: Mitchell Cashwell, Beverley Rouse and Cord Stahl

Mitchell Cashwell, a top-producing Citi Habitat’s agent, has departed the city’s biggest rental firm after a decade to join Town Residential. Cashwell, who was recognized as a top rental agent at Citi in 2005 and as a top sales agent from 2009 to 2011, will be working out of Town’s West Village office at 45 Horatio Street starting immediately, Town told The Real Deal today.

“Town has the tools I need to take my business to another level,” Cashwell said in a statement to The Real Deal. Citi Habitats had no comment on his departure. [more]

Realogy could soon be traded on the public markets.

From the August issue: Realogy — the largest residential brokerage franchisor in the world and the owner of Manhattan-based firms Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats — filed documents in June announcing that it planned to raise as much as $1 billion through an initial public offering. Now, as the IPO looms, many in the industry are wondering what the stock sale will mean for the company’s New York City brands. [more]

Manhattan apartment seekers had more rental units to choose from in July, a new report says. The vacancy rate for rentals in the borough reached 1.20 percent in July, an increase compared to the previous July, when the rate was 0.86 percent, according to a monthly report released today by Citi Habitats.

This is the second consecutive month the firm saw an increase in rental inventory, and represents the highest level of available apartments since this past March, when the vacancy rate was 1.25 percent. In June, it was 1.01 percent, the report says. [more]