Rents are falling in Manhattan. But they keep climbing in this neighborhood

Apartments near the Second Avenue subway are in demand, and landlords are pricing them accordingly.

The median rent in Manhattan declined to $3,245 in November, down 1.7 percent from the previous year. Rent was on the decline in almost every neighborhood in Manhattan but in Yorkville, the neighborhood through which the new subway line travels, rent climbed 3.9 percent during that time, according to data from StreetEasy.

The increase “makes sense, considering how big a game-changer the Second Avenue subway is,” Grant Long, senior economist at StreetEasy, told Bloomberg.

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Yorkville stretches from East 79th Street to East 96th Street, and two new stations on the Q train line opened in the neighborhood in 2017. The only two neighborhoods where rent grew faster than Yorkville, were the Financial District and Stuyvesant Town.

Home prices also increased in Yorkville, with median asking prices climbing 2 percent in November, compared with 1.4 percent for the rest of Manhattan. Developers are bringing over 20 new development projects to the area.

In late 2016, Douglas Elliman broker Frances Katzen told The Real Deal that the construction of the Second Avenue subway has brought different types of residents — young, hip professionals and Europeans who want quality skills — and foreigners who are looking to rent out their investment condos. [Bloomberg] — Chava Gourarie