Manhattan median rent reached new record of $5,295/month in June
Credit: Daniel Lee on Unsplash
Manhattan and Brooklyn rents have reached new highs as the cost of living continues to rise across New York City. A report from the Corcoran Group found that the median rent for market-rate residential buildings in Manhattan reached $5,295 per month at the start of summer, up 3 percent since May and 8 percent year over year. Across the East River, Brooklyn’s median rent for market-rate units reached $4,350 last month, an 8 percent annual increase. The continued surge reflects the city’s limited housing inventory, with Manhattan’s already-tight vacancy rate falling from 1.57 percent in May to 1.49 percent in June.
“Manhattan renters are chasing a shrinking pool of available apartments, and the result has become predictable—record rents,” Gary Malin, chief operating officer at Corcoran, told Crain’s New York.
“Across the board, quality apartments are commanding a premium, and renters have little room to negotiate. Brooklyn’s rental market is also rewriting the record books,” he added.
In Manhattan, studio and one-bedroom apartments each reached new average rent records for the second consecutive month in June, climbing to $4,014 and $5,408, respectively. Two- and three-bedroom rents also continued to rise, with both categories posting annual gains of 10 percent.
While there were 5,260 active listings across Manhattan in June, up 6 percent in comparison to May, listings fell by 16 percent year-over-year and registered the lowest June total in three years.
In June, the average Manhattan apartment took 36 days to find a tenant, the same rate month-over-month but down 29 percent annually.
Leasing activity increased slightly by 1 percent compared with May but remained 7 percent below last year’s level. The decline coincided with a double-digit annual drop in inventory, suggesting that limited supply continues to constrain leasing volume during one of the borough’s busiest rental periods.
In Brooklyn, median rents rose 0.1 percent from May and 8 percent year over year, reaching $4,350 per month in June. The increase surpassed the previous record of $4,347 per month set just one month earlier.
Average rents increased year-over-year across all unit types. One- and two-bedroom apartments saw the largest annual gains, rising 10 percent to $4,297 and $5,740, respectively.
There were 4,473 active listings in Brooklyn in June, up 4 percent compared with May but down 0.4 percent year over year. The average Brooklyn rental remained on the market for 37 days in June, unchanged from May but 30 percent lower than last year, further underscoring the borough’s limited inventory and strong rental demand.
In June, Brooklyn saw 1,368 leases signed, up 6 percent from May but down 11 percent year-over-year. It marked the second consecutive month of annual declines following an eight-month streak of gains that ended in May. Despite the drop, June recorded the second-highest leasing activity for the month since 2022, trailing only 2025’s total.
Annual leasing activity declined across every unit type except studios, which increased by 7 percent. Three-bedroom apartments saw the largest drop, falling 20 percent year-over-year.
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine said the housing affordability crisis is “at DefCon1” in a post on X.
“We need to push harder on every front to address our housing shortage,” Levine wrote. “Update zoning, invest more City $ in affordable units, lower the time & cost City bureaucracy imposes on construction, get 1000s of vacant regulated units back on the market. We need bold action. This is a crisis.”
Record-breaking market-rate rents came as the city’s Rent Guidelines Board approved a historic rent freeze for one- and two-year leases covering roughly one million stabilized apartments last month. The new guidelines, which apply to leases beginning on or after October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2027, fulfill a key campaign promise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani just six months into his first term.
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