Northwest Queens experienced a massive surge in its listing inventory in May 2025, compared to the same month the previous year, according to a report by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
The listing inventory in northwest Queens, which includes the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside, nearly doubled year over year, rising 81.3% from 642 in May 2024 to 1,345 in May 2025. This inventory also represents a whopping 183.8% increase from the 474 in May 2020.
Despite the massive spike in inventory across northwest Queens over the last five years, it has been unable to keep pace with the number of new lease signings across this part of the borough. However, new lease signings went up at its lowest year-over-year rate in 20 months, allowing for the inventory to at least catch up a little bit. New leases rose just 1.7%, from 811 in May 2024 to 825 in May 2025. This still represents a 453.7% boost from the 149 new lease signings in May 2020.
One-bedroom units were the only households in northwest Queens to experience a rise in new leases year over year. There was a 12.9% increase, from 341 last year to 385 this year.
The decreases in new leases were very modest among studios and two-bedroom units. Studios had just a 0.7% drop, from 149 last year to 148 this year. Two-bedroom units underwent a 2.6% decline, from 233 last year to 227 this year. Three-bedroom units, meanwhile, experienced a 26.1% decrease, from 88 last year to 65 this year.
The median rent across northwest Queens went up year-over-year by 6.6%, from $3,400 in May 2024 to $3,625 in May 2025. This new price also represents a 23.1% jump from the $2,945 median rent in May 2020.
All unit types had a rise in median rent, with the most significant increase experienced by one-bedroom units. The median price of one-bedroom units rose 13.5%, from $3,150 last year to $3,575 this year. Two-bedroom units had the smallest jump, at 3.8%, from $4,000 last year to $4,150 this year. There was a 7.6% climb for studios, from $3,067 in 2024 to $3,300 in 2025. Three-bedroom units had a 5.1% increase, from $3,997 to $4,200.
The market share of rentals that went through bidding wars went down, from 23% in May 2024 to 20.6% in May 2025.
Rentals with landlord concessions saw their market share of new leases drop from 14.2% in 2024 to 10.7% in 2025. This is a significant reduction from the 66.1% peak seen in November 2020.
