Midtown, Hell's Kitchen Rents Stay Low In 2021, Report Finds

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The new year has not ushered in any changes to New York City's declining real estate market, as rents remained historically low across the boroughs in January — including in Midtown and Hell's Kitchen, a new report found.

In Midtown West, for example, the median asking rent for apartments last month was just $2,900 — a 19 percent decline from this time last year.

Across Midtown as a whole, rentals are 23 percent cheaper than they were in January 2020. Asking prices for home sales have likewise dropped, by about 16 percent.

The data comes from a new study by the real estate website Streeteasy, which found that the continued decline in rents and home prices is caused by the large amount of homes that remain on the market.

Across Manhattan, typical rent last month was $2,750 — the lowest it has been since March 2010, and a 15.5 percent drop from last year. Brooklyn and Queens had median asking rents of $2,395 and $2,000, respectively.

Here is the January 2021 market data for Midtown Manhattan:

Central Park South:

• Median asking price: $2,472,500 (25.3 percent increase from 2020)
• Median asking rent: $6,900 (11.8 percent decrease from 2020)

Midtown (central):

• Median asking price: $1,950,000 (30.3 percent decrease from 2020)
• Median asking rent: $3,400 (16.5 percent decrease from 2020)

Midtown East:

• Median asking price: $825,000 (7.8 percent decrease from 2020)
• Median asking rent: $2,699 (24.5 percent decrease from 2020)

Midtown West (Hell's Kitchen):

• Median asking price: $1,160,000 (16.1 percent decrease from 2020)
• Median asking rent: $2,900 (19.4 percent decrease from 2020)

In a silver lining for sellers, however, home-buying activity has surged despite the price drops, according to Streeteasy: the number of pending sales in Manhattan jumped by nearly 31 percent year-over-year, caused mostly by luxury homes.

That luxury market was also reflected in rentals: Central Park South's median rents led all of New York's at $6,900.

Explore the full data and read Streeteasy's market report here