No Rental Cooldown In East Harlem, Despite Citywide Relief: Streeteasy

EAST HARLEM, NY - More vacant apartment units in East Harlem may soon bring rent relief to East Harlemites, despite median asking rents pushing to nearly $3,000 in August, according to a new Streeteasy report.

The median asking rent for all bedrooms now stands at $2,999, a 7.1 percent increase compared to last year at $2,800 and the highest overall median asking rent to date in the neighborhood, according to a Patch analysis of Streeteasy data.

Median asking rents for a one-bedroom in East Harlem are also up to $2,695 in 2023, an increase of 7.9 percent from $2,497 in 2022.

It’s also worth noting the increases have slowed from last year: the median asking rent increase for one-beds jump 22 percent from 2021 to 2022.

The good news: an uptick in availability may bring relief to renters, Streeteasy said in its report, with the median asking rent falling in Manhattan overall from $3,795 in July to $3,775 in August. While it’s only a modest decline, it marks the first month-to-month decrease in 2023.

Year-over-year rent growth in August was five times slower than the same time in 2022, when the median asking rent shot up to 31.1 percent.

The bad news: East Harlem has yet to see the same dip in rents. Between July and August, median asking rents rose in the neighborhood from $2,965 in July to $2,999 in August.

But there’s still hope for rent relief in East Harlem as the hot summer market cools off, the report's authors said.

“As fewer renters move in the fall and winter … competition will continue to ease for the remainder of this year,” the report reads. “Besides the seasonal slowdown, the recent increase in rental inventory from a very low level last year will ease competition among renters further.”

In East Harlem, there are 580 apartment units available, up from 444 this time last year. In Manhattan, there are 20,850 available units, compared to 2022’s 17,070. It’s the ninth fastest-growing rental market by inventory, with a 31 percent inventory growth year-over-year.

Holding the top spots are Mott Haven (110 percent), Battery Park City (78 percent) and SoHo (56 percent) for year-over-year inventory growth.

Rental inventory is expected to continue to grow in 2024, slowing rent growth even further, the Streeteasy report said.

You can read the full Streeteasy report here.