Chelsea, Soho/Tribeca reign as priciest rental nabes this month

Chelsea is home to some of Manhattan’s most expensive rentals this month, while the Upper East Side and Lower East Side were among the most affordable neighborhoods below 96th Street, according to a new report from TOWN Residential.

As the priciest rental nabe overall, Chelsea had median rents for October thus far of $2,895 per month for a studio, $4,125 for a one-bedroom, $6,925 for a two-bedroom and $7,000 for a three-plus bedroom, according to TOWN’s October rental report.

Soho and Tribeca, combined as one neighborhood in the report, were home to the priciest studios and one-bedrooms, with median rents of $3,450 and $4,285 per month, respectively.

Studios in Harlem nabbed renters the best bang for their buck in October, with median rents of $1,655 per month. The Lower East Side boasted the cheapest studios and one-bedrooms south of 96th Street, with a median rent of $2,200 and $2,870 per month, respectively, while the Upper East Side was close behind with median rents of $2,455 on studios and $3,300 for one-bedrooms.

“In the high-end price sector it is often less expensive to rent than to buy,” Andrew Heiberger, founder and CEO of TOWN, said in a release. “We expect the affordability gap to widen in 2014 as land prices continue to set records and international millionaires and billionaires continue to invest in the Manhattan and greater New York City marketplace.”

Market-wide, studio rental rates were flat month-over-month, with median rents of $2,550 per month unchanged from September to October. One-bedrooms ticked down slightly from $3,433 per month in September to $3,400 in October, two-bedrooms were flat at $4,900 in both months, and rentals with three or more bedrooms fell slightly from $5,300 in September to $5,295 in October. —Julie Strickland