When the stay at home orders were put on the city in March, much of the life and energy that made New York City was sucked away. People opted to “weather the storm” outside of the city, choosing to settle in the suburbs for the time being. In turn came a big decrease in demand for housing.
Today, much of the demand for rentals has softened, especially the market for 1-bedroom apartments in high demand areas. In this market, it is not unusual to find a decrease of 5% per month in rent. On top of that, renters should look to play hardball with their landlords as it is not uncommon for landlord to give concessions at this time to help fill vacancies in their buildings. Some concessions landlord have been giving are one to two free months of rent on a 12- or 24-month lease or to have the landlord pay certain utilities or fees such as cable, electric, or water or closing costs when signing the lease. Further, tenants which are currently in long term leases should reach out to their landlord and see if they can get their monthly rent lowered.
The next 6 months will be an interesting time for New York City leases as tenants will be waiting to see how much landlords are willing to give up to have their units leased and avoid large vacancies in their buildings.
Sources below:
- https://ny.curbed.com/2020/5/18/21257074/nyc-rent-tenant-landlord-moving-apartment-coronavirus
- https://www.marketplace.org/2020/07/02/what-will-happen-to-new-yorks-sky-high-rents/
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