Upper East Side Rents Are Jumping As Inventory Shrinks: Study

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Fewer and fewer vacant homes on the Upper East Side mean rising rents and dropping numbers of leases being signed, according to a new report.

In January, the median rent on the Upper East Side was $4,745 per month — a 33 percent increase from last January, when the figure stood at $3,576, according to the new market report by Corcoran, a real estate firm.

That rent spike coincided with a drop in the neighborhood's inventory. The Upper East Side's vacancy rate plummeted from 4.18 percent in January 2021 down to 1.09 percent last month — the second-lowest in Manhattan, trailing only Greenwich Village.

Similar trends have been observed for months, as the glut of apartments that entered the market during the coronavirus pandemic have quickly dried up amid a surge in demand. Last fall, a separate study by StreetEasy also found that Upper East Side rents were steadily rising as inventory dried up.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the East Village and the Lower East Side had Manhattan's highest vacancy rates, at 2.07 and 1.96 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, overall leasing activity likewise declined on the Upper East Side, from 712 last January to 523 this year. That drop was mirrored in other neighborhoods like Chelsea, Midtown West and the Financial District, while the only areas seeing an increase in activity were Upper Manhattan neighborhoods like Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

Despite the year-over-year trend, inventory did rise modestly between December 2021 and last month, according to Corcoran: Manhattan had 4,855 active listings in January, up 23 percent from December.

"Median rent held steady at its post-Covid high, driven by upward pricing pressure in the Doorman market," reads the report, adding that two-bedroom apartments now command their second-highest share of new leases within the past three years.

Still, remarkably, rents have not fully recovered from their pandemic slump, with median rent for Manhattan's non-doorman buildings remaining 10 percent below their pre-pandemic high.

Related coverage:

• Upper East Side Rents Stop Dropping, Finally: Study
• Upper East Side Rents Plummeted In 2020, Study Finds