Manhattan rents continue to soar to new heights.
The average rent in June surged 7% year over year to an all-time high of $5,450 as prices increased for the seventh consecutive month, according to the appraisal firm Miller Samuel reported in tandem with realtor Douglas Elliman.
The median rent also broke its previous record, climbing 7.6% year over year to $4,625, according to the report.
Rent per square foot in Manhattan rose 4.4% annually to the second-highest level on record as inventory remained sparce, the report said.
There were 7,301 new lease signings recorded in June — an annual increase of 7.8% — outpacing the 4.4% rise in listing inventory, which reached 10,265.
The borough’s vacancy rate — which measures the percentage of rental units in a market or building that are unoccupied and available for lease — fell to 2.14%, down from 2.83% a year ago.
Competitive pressures remained strong, with 25% of rentals leased above the landlord’s asking price. The average premium paid in these bidding wars exceeded the asking price by 11.2%, according to the report.
Luxury apartment rentals have also gotten more expensive.
Entry-level rents in the luxury segment began at $8,299, while the median rent in this category held steady at $10,000 — unchanged from a year earlier.
In Brooklyn, rents continued their upward trajectory, though at a slower pace than in Manhattan.
Median rent increased by 1% year-over-year to $3,733, while the average rental price climbed 2.8% to $4,210, extending a nine-month streak of annual growth.
Rent per square foot rose 6.2% to $60.89, setting a new record for the fifth time in six months.
Brooklyn saw 4,066 new lease signings in June, up 8.1% from June of last year.
Meanwhile, new lease signings were outpaced by a 22.3% rise in listing inventory, which reached 6,649 units.
Bidding wars intensified in Brooklyn as well. Nearly one in three rentals — 31.9% — were leased above the landlord’s asking price, with the average premium hitting 12.6%, up from 28.2% during the same period last year.
The borough’s luxury market began at $6,300, with the median luxury rent at $7,400, down slightly — 0.2% — from a year ago.
Northwest Queens saw the sharpest year-over-year gain in median rent among the three boroughs. Median rent rose 10.8% to $3,600, marking the sixth straight annual increase.
The average rental price rose 7.9% to $3,882, while rent per square foot increased by 6.9%.
New lease signings in Queens climbed 6.2% to 820. However, that lagged behind a 34.1% surge in listing inventory, which reached 1,120 units.
Bidding wars were up in Queens as well. About 24% of rentals were leased above asking price, up from 19.8% the year before.
Rent and housing affordability emerged as the defining issues of New York City’s 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, which was won by left-wing State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani made a rent freeze of the city’s nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments his signature policy proposal. He pledged to appoint members to the Rent Guidelines Board who would block any increases on rent-stabilized apartments, aiming to implement a four-year rent freeze.
Mamdani’s campaign received widespread support from tenant advocacy groups and a coalition known as the Tenant Bloc, which ran an extended “Freeze The Rent” campaign.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who will run as an independent in the general election, has opposed the freeze.
