Manhattan Neighborhood Near Newest Subway Defying Rent Declines

(Bloomberg) -- Apartment rents are on the decline in almost every Manhattan neighborhood. But in Yorkville, the Upper East Side enclave with a brand-new subway line, landlords are demanding more.

Asking rents in Yorkville climbed 3.9 percent in November from a year earlier, to a median of $2,800, according to a study by property listings website StreetEasy. The neighborhood, from 79th to 97th streets, east of Third Avenue, was among just six of the 38 areas measured that had an increase. Only the Financial District saw asking rents climb more.

For all of Manhattan, the median declined 1.7 percent to $3,245, StreetEasy said.

“Yorkville definitely stands out,” said Grant Long, the senior economist at StreetEasy who compiled the data, the most recent available. “But it makes sense, considering how big a game-changer the Second Avenue subway is.”

The first phase of the Second Avenue subway opened at the start of 2017, and serves about 200,000 riders daily, according to the website of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The new line extends the Q train from Midtown to East 96th Street.

In November 2016, before the subway was operational, asking rents in Yorkville were down 0.2 percent from a year earlier, StreetEasy data show.

Sellers in the area are also feeling good about their chances of getting more. The median asking price for a home in Yorkville climbed 2 percent in November to $1.295 million. Manhattan-wide, asking prices climbed 1.4 percent to $1.825 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Oshrat Carmiel in New York at ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net, Christine Maurus

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