West Village Rents Keep Climbing Despite More Available Units: Study

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Even as the number of available apartments has continued to rise in the West Village, renters still have not seen any relief, according to a new study by StreetEasy.

That's because many of the newly available homes are being given up by tenants whose pandemic-era leases are expiring, leaving them to face dramatic rent increases, according to the study.

The study, released last week, found that at least 34 percent of New York City's listed apartments had discounted leases during the pandemic — only to return to the market now at historically high prices.

That trend has been most notable in Manhattan, where rental inventory rose by 33 percent between the first and second quarters of 2022. But a full 44 percent of that inventory was freed up by tenants who were priced out of their suddenly-expensive apartments, according to StreetEasy's analysis, which examined rental listings across the city during the year's second quarter.

Here's where the numbers stood for the West Village in the second quarter of 2022, which is April, May, and June.

• Median Asking Price: $1.75 million
• YoY Change: +12.50 percent
• Median Asking Rent: $4,795
• YoY Change: +45.30 percent
• Median Sales Price: $1.3 million
• YoY Change: -15.30 percent

The West Village rent price in the second quarter of 2022 was the tenth highest of any neighborhood in New York City.

It was also $695 higher than the record-setting median rent in Manhattan during the period — $4,100.

In terms of how it compares to the first quarter of 2022, West Village asking rent has gone up $295 from $4,500.

While the West Village rent has overall gone up from the beginning portion of this year, some earlier months actually saw higher rates in the neighborhood.

The average West Village rent in January 2022 was a staggering $5,272.

Nearby neighborhoods such as Chelsea and SoHo were some of the few areas to have more expensive rents than the West Village in the second quarter of 2022.

StreetEasy economist Kenny Lee explained that landlords have begun amping up prices in a mass wave — with asking rents jumping about 20 percent citywide — and left tenants of formerly-discounted homes with a tough decision to make.

"Either pay painfully higher annual rent," Lee said, "or...[face] an incredibly hot market in terms of options."

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.