Rentals in demand: FiDi breaks into top five

The Upper East Side was again the most in-demand Manhattan neighborhood of the last week, according to Zumper, an apartment listings website. Other popular neighborhoods, in order, were the West Village, the Financial District, Chelsea and Soho.

The prior week, Chelsea tied with the common frontrunner Upper East Side, but has since slipped. The Financial District made its first appearance in the top five. Renters were most often looking for one-bedroom apartments, which crushed the competition with 60 percent of total inquiries, the Zumper data show. The median rent query for one-bedrooms overall was $2,520 per month.

“The searched prices for one- and two-bedrooms climbed 3 percent and 20 percent respectively, whereas two-bedrooms dropped 22 percent due to more searches in Harlem,” Zumper COO Taylor Glass-Moore told The Real Deal.

Studios had 25 percent of the total market share, with a median inquiry of $1,750. Two-bedrooms trailed with 15 percent of the leads and $2,285 per month, the data show.

Methodology: Zumper determined the rankings by using a representative sample of emails and phone calls from renters interested in its Manhattan listings available during the week of Dec. 15. — Mark Maurer