New hires with delayed start-dates are helping to temporarily support the rental market, but likely won’t be enough to prevent further price declines this winter, according to Daniel Baum, the CEO of TDG/The Real Estate Group New York, which released its October Manhattan rental market report today (see the full report after the jump). This spring, law firms and consulting companies began offering new hires incentives to push back their start dates. For example, in March, law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore asked first-year associates to postpone their start date with an option of beginning in October, November or January, according to the American Lawyer. These kinds of decisions had an impact on the rental market, Baum said, as those new hires postponed their apartment searches until the fall. That, combined with rising unemployment, led to a slower-than-normal summer rental season, Baum said. He said this group of renters is finally moving to the city and that their presence is helping to temporarily prop up the rental market. [more]