By Karla Harby

Did you see the article in Sunday’s New York Times? The title in the print edition is “Looking to Rent? Good Luck,” and the title in the online edition is “The Lease is Up, and Now, So Is the Rent” (October 16, 2011, Real Estate Section).

The article is based on New York City data showing that rents are now—Yikes!—surpassing the historic highs of 2007. (The data are mostly from a large brokerage firm, as truly independent data on this do not seem to exist.)

My experience with clients supports this city-wide data. Every day I talk with people whose landlord is raising their rent at lease renewal, or they can’t find anything they can afford in their neighborhood of choice.

Or both.

Yet, other renters report that their rent is the same as last lease, and their building has vacancies.

So, what’s going on?

The simple answer is that your personal experience depends on your neighborhood, your rent range, and the desirability of your particular building.

As always, it’s supply and demand.

Demand is up because many would-be buyers are instead renting, as the Times reports. Also, New York CIty is still creating jobs, and I frequently speak with people who are relocating to here.

A problem in some cases is the landlord has improved the building/apartents so much that the rent is driven beyond what people will readily pay on a square-foot/location basis. In other words, the landlord over-improved the place, and now the profitable rent is too high compared to other apartments.

Supply is being bolstered by a few factors, too. Condo developments that couldn’t be sold are instead being rented, and individual owners who own one apartment in a condo, or in a co-op, who would prefer to sell are instead renting.

Still in many neighborhoods, the supply of one bedroom apartments is very, very low compared to the number of people who want to live there.

Hoods with better rents/terms include the financial district, the upper east side, parts of midtown and the upper reaches of the upper west side. Hoods that have minimal apts available include gramercy, the village west and central, williamsburg and park slope.

What can you do? Three things:

First, If you want the best deal possible, the best thing you can do for yourself is be willing to change neighborhoods. You might do better in a larger apartment with a room mate, if that works for you.

Second, historically this is a seasonable business, so if you wait another month or two or three, you might get a better deal. However, the down side of this strategy is that you might find fewer apartments to choose from, and you might be forced to rent something you’re unhappy with just to have a place to live.

Third–you knew I was going to say this–choose a broker to help you. You can still look for apartments on your own all you want, and if you find one yourself, fantastic! But in the meantime you will have a professional working for you also, thereby increasing your options and your odds of finding a great new home.

Here’s the link for the NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/realestate/rents-in-manhattan-rebound-to-record-highs.html?_r=2

We hope this review helps you, although finding rental apartments in New York City, whether you want to rent an apartment in Manhattan or Brooklyn, is always a challenge! Use the search page of our Metropolis website to quickly find an apartment and an agent to help you.