Gramercy, Soho/Tribeca maintain priciest rents this month

Manhattan’s most affordable rental neighborhoods below 96th Street are the Lower East Side, the East Village and the Upper East Side, according to TOWN Residential’s December rental report.

Gramercy Park/Flatiron and Soho/Tribeca remained the borough’s priciest neighborhoods for renters, particularly for three-bedrooms, where that type of unit had a median rent of $7,000 and $6,720 per month, respectively, in December. On the opposite end, a studio in the Lower East Side had a median rent of $2,150, while studios in the East Village and Upper East Side both had a median of $2,200 a month.

And yet, relief is on the horizon for cash-strapped Manhattan renters, according to Dan Marrello, leasing director at TOWN’s Fifth Avenue office.

“We have seen a steady increase in vacancy rates since July and continue to see the same into the winter,” Marrello said in a release from the firm. “This season has begun to push prices down in almost all neighborhoods. The market has quickly shifted from a landlord’s market to a tenant-based market with owners becoming more creative with the types of incentives they offer to attract tenants to their properties.”

Citywide, the average rent per month has declined on every type of unit, according to TOWN’s report. Studios have dropped by 3.95 percent to $2,500 a month from $2,600 the previous month; one-bedrooms are down 1.47 percent to $3,350 from $3,400 a month; and two-bedrooms dipped 5.35 percent to $4,685 from $4,950 per month. Three bedrooms saw the smallest dip, falling 0.1 percent to $4,995 from $5,000.

Marrello added that he expects to see the trend continue in the first quarter of 2014. — Julie Strickland