Upper East Side Rents Soar As Pandemic Deals 'Expire,' Study Finds

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The dream of a pandemic-induced bargain apartment on the Upper East Side is officially dead: rents in the neighborhood have soared by hundreds of dollars as available homes are quickly snatched up, according to a new study.

The report by StreetEasy, released Thursday, examined listings across the city during the first quarter of 2022.

Among its findings: the median asking rent in Manhattan has reached the highest level that the company has ever recorded, at $3,695 during Q1 2022. That's a 36.9 increase over the same period last year.

The Upper East Side has seen a nearly identical rise, from $2,400 last year to $3,275 during this year's first quarter — a 36.5 percent jump.

The obvious conclusion, according to StreetEasy, is that "pandemic deals have expired," as the real estate market appears white-hot compared to the doldrums of 2020. Indeed, as demand has risen, Manhattan's number of available apartments has continued to fall, with 643 fewer rentals on the market now compared to Q4 of last year.

That's smaller, however, than the staggering 16,426-apartment drop in available Manhattan rentals that occurred between the second and third quarters of 2021 — suggesting that the freefall may be ending soon, along with the upward price spiral.

"Renters are generally in a tougher position than they normally are this time of year, but those able to take over the lease on a pandemic-deal apartment may have more luck," Zllow economist Joshua Clark said in a statement. "There could be a mass exodus of renters priced out of their apartments in the coming months that could help alleviate the weaker than normal supply of rental inventory."

As for the sales market, the Upper East Side's median asking price during this year's first quarter was $1,549,500 — a 3.6 percent increase compared to last year.

The number of homes for sale fell by about 10 percent year-over-year, but has risen by four percent since the last quarter of 2021 — the first time in three quarters that the sale inventory has increased, according to StreetEasy.

The Upper East Side's median asking rent ranks it 41st out of 153 neighborhoods citywide included in the StreetEasy study — ahead of neighborhoods like Park Slope and Chinatown, but less pricey than Tribeca, Flatiron or the West Village, whose rents range between $4,500 and $7,250.

Read the full StreetEasy report here.