The year-over-year rent growth for the month of November in New York City was 2.9%, marking the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that it rose less than 3%, according to a new report.
The real estate firm StreetEasy released the report that found the median rent fell from $3,600 in November 2022 to $3,500 last month.
The slower rent growth is reflective of more homes being available for rent across the city, according to StreetEasy. Year-over-year, rentals on the market increased 8.6% in the city from 29,511 last year to 32,049 in November 2023.
Given the greater supply of units, competition among prospective renters eased and the median asking rent did not increase much year-over-year. The 2.9% increase, in fact, is meager, compared to the 23.6% jump from November 2021 to November 2022, when the median rent went from $2,913 to 3,600.
Another factor reflecting less competition for homes was the fact that rental concessions reached a two-year high, with 19.9%, or approximately 6,410 rentals on the market, offering at least one month of free rent in November. This represents a 14.3% increase year-over-year from 5,608 rentals. This marks the highest percentage of rentals offering concessions since July 2021.
The rise in rental concessions across New York City appears to signal that rent growth will continue to slow in 2024, in line with housing predictions StreetEasy has made for next year.
Queens is the only borough where rent growth has not slowed. The median asking rent increased 11.5% year-over-year, from $2,600 last year to $2,899 in November 2023.
This is in large part because demand for rentals in the borough remains strong, outpacing the rising inventory in select neighborhoods. The rental inventory increased 7.3% year-over-year, from 4,133 to 4,435. With demand being so high in the borough, rental concessions have barely gone up, increasing from 12.8% to just 14.7% year-over-year.
