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Manhattan median rent climbed to a new high of $5,295 last month as apartment hunters competed for fewer available listings.

The new record reflected an 8 percent annual increase from June 2025, according to a new report from Corcoran.

Rents are rising as a result of falling inventory. Manhattan listings were down 16 percent compared to a year ago, the lowest June inventory in three years. Lease signings were down too, a year-over-year drop of 7 percent.

“Manhattan renters are chasing a shrinking pool of available apartments, and the result has become predictable—record rents,” said Gary Malin, chief operating officer at Corcoran. He attributed lower leasing activity to the lack of inventory as well.

June marked one year since the implementation of the FARE Act, which shifted responsibility for most broker fees to landlords instead of renters. Some owners said they would raise rents to cover the new cost.

Malin said the new law “may still be influencing pricing trends, particularly within the non-doorman market.”

Median rent for non-doorman rental units, a proxy for the lower half of the rental market, was $4,695, an 18 percent over June 2025, while the median rent for doorman units was $5,500, reflecting a rise of 4 percent over the same period.

The average Manhattan apartment took 36 days to find a tenant in June, a 29 percent quicker pace annually, as per Corcoran.

Pricier new developments in Brooklyn

It was a similar story in Brooklyn, where median rent hit a new all-time high of $4,350 in June, an 8 percent year-over-year jump that surpassed the previous record of $4,347 set in May. A great number of higher-priced new developments helped pushed rents up, the report said.

Inventory was nearly unchanged compared to a year ago and lease signings declined by 11 percent over a year ago but were up 6 percent from May.

Apartments spent an average of 37 days on the market, 30 percent fewer than a year ago. Malin said the steep drop “underscores how tight the market has become, with flat inventory and strong demand causing available units to rent far faster than a year ago.”

He noted that leasing activity picked up from May “as renters moved quickly to secure apartments ahead of the busiest stretch of the summer season.”

 

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