Brooklyn and Queens saw record-setting concessions in April yet again, with the former cracking the 50 percent mark for the first time.
There was a huge year-over-year increase in concessions in new rental transactions in Brooklyn, where the share jumped to 51 percent in April from 14.7 percent, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman. Meanwhile, 65.1 percent of new deals in Northwest Queens included concessions, up from 45.4 percent last April. This was the fifth consecutive month that concessions hit a record in Brooklyn and the fifth time in the past seven months that a record was set in Queens.
Jonathan Miller, CEO of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel and author of the report, referred to the almost constant stream of new concession records as the “long-running narrative” for New York rentals.
“With the supply continuing to enter all these markets, it’s seemingly every month or every few months, there’s a new record set for the market share of concessions that are being offered,” he said.
For the 11th time in the past 12 months, the net effective median rent in Brooklyn dropped, seeing a 2.9 percent year-over-year decrease to $2,686. In Queens, the net effective median rent fell 11.7 percent year over year to $2,646, marking the eighth decline in the past nine months.
The year-over-year size of concessions went up in both boroughs as well. It increased to 1.8 months from 1.4 months in Brooklyn, and rose to 1.6 months from 1.1 months in Queens.
Meanwhile, listing inventory in both boroughs fell. Brooklyn saw a 13.4 percent drop in April, with 2,063 units on the market, and inventory fell 13.3 percent in Queens to 517. Units stayed on the market for 29 days in Brooklyn, down from 49 last April, and for 25 days in Queens, down from 37 a year ago.
Miller said that given how many new projects are still in the works in the city, concessions won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“With the influx of new developments continuing unabated,” he said, “I think this market characteristic is going to be sticking around for a while.”