New York Rents Take a Breath After Record-Setting Streak

Manhattan rents paused their record-setting climb in August.

Coming off a new all-time high set in July, median Manhattan rents dipped $100 in August to $4,900 per month, according to the monthly rental report by appraiser Jonathan Miller in partnership with The Real Deal. 

Median rents for new, market-rate, brokered leases have been on a steep upward trend for more than 18 months. Manhattan’s median rents rose 6.5 percent year-over-year in August, double the rate of inflation. 

The slight decline is in part seasonal, according to Miller. Manhattan rents have fallen slightly or remained flat between July and August since at least 2022, and the pause does not mean New York City rents are likely to fall anytime soon. 

“We stepped back from the records that were set across the board in July,” Miller said. “But the median rent is still the second-highest in history.”

The step back came alongside declines for two key metrics, Miller said: the number of new leases signed monthly and the listing inventory. 

There were just 5,433 new leases signed in August, a nearly 27 percent decline from August of last year. Listing inventory has dropped even more steeply, according to the report, with a 45 percent decline year-over-year. 

That may mean that renters, likely deterred by record prices, are signing more lease renewals and bringing down the number of new leases and available inventory, according to Miller. 

Manhattan rents began their steep upward trajectory in February of 2025 and have been setting records. Rents typically spike in the summer, when tenant turnover and demand typically reach a peak. But the 18-month run has been driven in part by elevated mortgage rates, Miller said, which have kept would-be buyers camping out in the rental market. 

Brooklyn median rents took a sharper hit in August from July, coming down $500, from $4,500 to $4,000. Median rents rose only a bit more than 1 percent year over year in the borough. 

New York’s new pied-a-terre tax could also be putting pressure on the luxury rental market. 

Median rents in Manhattan’s luxury market, measured as the top 10 percent of listings by asking rent, have risen more than 22 percent year over year, to reach $12,823 per month. The tax surcharge, proposed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, applies to second homes worth more than $5 million. The tax has created some uncertainty in the luxury sales market, related to who will need to pay and how much, Miller said. Would-be buyers may be choosing to rent luxury units instead. 

The report doesn’t look at rent-stabilized apartments, where rent increases are set by the city. In June, the city’s rental board approved a rent freeze for those apartments, one that Mamdani had campaigned on. 

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