| Usually, the beginning of the year sees an | | | | decreased. This, perhaps, suggests that |
| uptick in rental rates. There are various | | | | larger, more professionally run NYC |
| boring economic reasons for this seasonal | | | | apartments have been adjusting their rents to |
| cycle that are really just too dry to get | | | | the new market environment with more |
| into. Suffice to say, it has nothing to do | | | | dexterity than smaller landlords. Many of the |
| with landlords falling out of their holiday | | | | latter may still be clinging to the past, |
| cheer after a month of saying in December "OK | | | | when New York apartments virtually rented |
| guys, you know what, lower rent for everyone, | | | | themselves in the most seller's market in the |
| and eggnog drinks on me!" That never happens. | | | | country. |
| Landlords don't do that. | | | | |
| | | | Another important factor in that dichotomy: |
| The point is, though, that that didn't happen | | | | The recent spate of condo building in the |
| this year. January rolled around, and average | | | | financial district has left a minor surplus |
| rental rates continued to fall, as the | | | | in the number of high-end, high rent condos. |
| financial markets began laying people off | | | | Over the past two months, most owners of |
| (happy new year!) and the national market | | | | those buildings have lowered rents in order |
| continued to plummet. | | | | to fill their larger-than-normal number of |
| | | | vacancies. |
| So, average rental rates for New York | | | | |
| apartments in the month of February were on a | | | | Rental rates for New York apartments fell |
| lot of economists' minds recently. | | | | in a number of neighborhoods. Harlem and |
| | | | Murray Hill saw some of the largest |
| Thus, it comes as good news to the economy | | | | decreases. SoHo and Battery Park City were |
| that rents were flat in February - or, at | | | | not far behind. Rents in Chelsea and Midtown |
| least, that type of "good" news that's good | | | | West fell slightly. |
| just cause you've gotten so used to bad news | | | | |
| that just OK news feels like a heavenly choir | | | | The Upper West Side and Upper East Side, |
| in your head. | | | | meanwhile, saw decent increases in average |
| | | | rents. The Lower East Side also saw a small |
| While the city could certainly use a good | | | | increase in prices. |
| amount of low rent housing, the lower rental | | | | |
| rates are not a good sign for the economy as | | | | Nicholas Adams Judge is a freelance writer |
| a whole. | | | | specializing in business, politics and |
| | | | economics. He holds a B.A. in political |
| Basically, the normal cyclical momentum that | | | | science and will begin his PhD studies in |
| pushes rents higher this time of year was | | | | political economy and public opinion next |
| just enough to arrest the decline in property | | | | fall. He has studied economics and political |
| values. | | | | science at a number of different |
| | | | institutions, both here and in the U.K., |
| Interestingly, rents for apartments in | | | | including Amherst College, Warwick |
| buildings without doorman increased slightly, | | | | University, Oxford University and the |
| while rents in buildings with doorman | | | | University of Massachusetts-Amherst. |