From PRWeb:
Year-End Report: Manhattan Rental Market Resilient, though Not Invincible in ’07
The Real Estate Group New York (TREGNY) released today their first Year-End Manhattan Rental Market Round-up. The study, which synthesizes data from all of TREGNY’s 2007 monthly Market Reports, evaluates the state of the Manhattan rental market based on its performance throughout the year. Intended as a guide for renters, owners and developers alike, TREGNY’s Year-End Report examines notable trends, average asking rents and price changes that occurred from January through December to provide insight on the health of the city’s rental market across different neighborhoods, apartment sizes and service levels.
According to the report, the Manhattan rental market remained relatively strong throughout 2007, despite the ongoing credit crunch and housing fallout. Citywide price gains across most categories averaged between 2.2% and 6.5%, with the exception of non-doorman two-bedroom buildings, whose rents climbed by an impressive 14.1% since this time last year. Individual Manhattan neighborhoods, however, experienced more dramatic gains–and in some cases–losses.
“The citywide numbers we’re seeing do indicate healthy growth, which suggests that Manhattan real estate has so far managed to weather the nervous conditions of a weakening U.S. housing market,” says Daniel Baum, co-founder and COO of The Real Estate Group. “On the other hand, significant rental declines in some areas of the city and all-around softening prices in the fourth quarter of ’07 may be foreshadowing declines in ’08.”