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Manhattan Rents See Record Surge Even With Slow Office Return

Manhattan Rents See Record Surge Even With Slow Office Return

Fevered demand for Manhattan apartments sent rents soaring the most on record in November, even without a mass return to the office. 

The median rent jumped 23% from a year earlier to $3,369, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the biggest increase in a decade of record-keeping, though the median is still 3.8% below where it was in November 2019, before the pandemic. 

Manhattan Rents See Record Surge Even With Slow Office Return

Apartment hunters are scouring for whatever deals remain in a market that’s been whittling down a mountain of inventory. Those still largely working from home are growing tired of being far from the city’s cultural institutions and nightlife, even as offices remain sparsely populated. 

“They just want to get back into the city -- they’ve been away long enough,” said Hal Gavzie, executive manager of leasing for Douglas Elliman. “There’s a kind of fatigue with being out of Manhattan, and missing it.” 

Manhattan Rents See Record Surge Even With Slow Office Return

Higher-priced apartments in doorman buildings accounted for much of last month’s rent surge. The median for those fancier homes -- a draw for Manhattan’s white-collar office workforce -- jumped 27% from a year earlier to $4,108. That’s above the November 2019 median of $4,016, the firms said. 

Apartments without doormen, usually lower-frills units popular with people on a budget, are still well below their pre-pandemic rates. The median for such units was $2,584 last month, 12% less than two years earlier. 

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.