Even with steep price cuts and a slew of concessions, owners are struggling to secure renters for their luxury apartments.
Developers are increasingly offering free rent — in some cases three months worth — and it’s becoming difficult for individual owners to compete, the Wall Street Journal reported. Supply is also high: Currently, 1,100 apartments (mostly in Manhattan) are listed for $10,000 a month or more. A recent Douglas Elliman report noted that just under 24 percent of Manhattan leases signed in October had some type of concession.
“The market has changed completely,” Sherri Shang, a Douglas Elliman Broker, told the Wall Street Journal. “I never expected three years later that even with a Central Park View, that it would be so hard to rent out now.”
Shang is struggling to find a tenant for a 40th-floor condo at One57, a Midtown luxury supertall developed by Extell Development Company. The apartment has previously commanded $13,000 a month, but Shang now can’t seem to find a tenant willing to pay even $10,000. She’s not alone. At an apartment at Trump Tower, asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment dropped from $25,000 in 2013 to $18,000 in October.
According to appraiser Jonathan Miller, about 20 percent of new condo sales in Manhattan are to investors, many of whom rent the units before selling again. [WSJ] — Kathryn Brenzel