Amazon’s announcement that it would come to Long Island City may have set off shockwaves throughout New York, but it has not impacted the rental market in Northwest Queens just yet, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman.
The borough is rather seeing the continuation of many preexisting trends, including another increase in concessions and new leases. A total of 59.2 percent of new deals included concessions in November, up from 44.5 percent last year, while the size of the concession remained unchanged at 1.2 months.
Despite these concessions, the median net effective rent price still rose by 9.3 percent year over year to hit $2,751. These rents are skewing higher due to the large amount of new developments, which made up 46 percent of the market.
The number of new leases in the borough shot up by 10.1 percent to reach 272, and units spent 22 days on the market, down from 34 last November. The listing discount dropped from 2.9 percent to 1.3 percent, while listing inventory dropped 21.6 percent to hit 460.
In Brooklyn, the streak of consecutive months with increases in concessions reached 34, the report said. A total of 46.5 percent of new deals had concessions in November, up from 18.6 percent last year, while the size of concessions went up from 1.3 months to 1.5 months.
Net effective median rent in the borough dropped 0.7 percent to hit $2,736, and the number of new leases dropped 3.5 percent to hit 961. The listing inventory also went down by 20 percent to hit 1,755.
Units spent an average of 27 days on the market, down from 43 days last year, and the listing discount decreased from 2.6 percent to 2 percent.
Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel and author of the report, said the market share of new developments was significant enough in both Brooklyn and Queens to make rents appear higher than they really are.
“It’s significant enough to really skew rents higher when in fact they are not rising,” he said.