Brooklyn, NW Queens concessions see another slight drop in June

Number of new leases with concessions in Brooklyn was 40.4%

Jackson Park rental towers at 28-10 Jackson Avenue in Queens (Credit: Facebook)
Jackson Park rental towers at 28-10 Jackson Avenue in Queens (Credit: Facebook)

Concession threat level: high, but declining. The amount of new leases with concessions in Brooklyn and Northwest Queens ticked down again in June, indicating that the higher summer demand for New York real estate might be temporarily lessening their stranglehold on the market.

The share of new leases with concessions in Brooklyn was 40.4 percent in June, down from 42.8 percent in May, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman. In Queens, it was 45.7 percent, down from 47.7 percent in May.

Prior to May, the amount of new leases with concessions in both boroughs had been setting record highs for months.

Concessions in Brooklyn and Queens were still up significantly year-over-year. Just 17.1 percent of new leases had concessions in Brooklyn last June, while in Queens, the number was 38.3 percent.

Net effective median rent in Brooklyn was $2,751 in June, compared to $2,813 last June. Year-over-year rent fell in Queens as well, dropping from $2,822 last June to $2,745 this June. This was the seventh consecutive month that year-over-year rent had gone down in both boroughs.

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The number of new leases in both boroughs also went down, dropping from 1,717 to 1,413 in Brooklyn and from 350 to 302 in Queens. Jonathan Miller, founder of Miller Samuel and author of the report, said this was a sign that landlords were improving at negotiating with their current tenants.

“When the number of new leases decline, in theory, that means renewals are rising,” he said, “so if renewals are rising, that means that the landlord is more in sync with the tenant and vice versa.”

Listings spent 27 days on the market in both Brooklyn and Queens, down from 39 days last year in Brooklyn and 34 days last year in Queens.

Listing inventory in both boroughs was down as well. In Brooklyn, it was at 1,903, down from 2,620 last June, and in Queens, it was at 453, down from 501 last June.