According to experts, New York City’s rental market is set to catch fire. The city is now seeing its rental prices and inventories begin to recover from the pandemic-level lows. The rental market is very much correlated with the job market in that the lower the unemployment rate, the higher the rental rate.
Due to the pandemic, a lot of tenants moved out of the city. Since then, new tenants have moved in to replace those who have left. This means landlords are seeing a different demographic than they were previously.
Brokers, like landlords, are also getting to know the new type of renters, and what new tenants want is crucial to forecasting the market. Experts found that renters’ needs were based off of an ordered list. The first being their top priority and then descending on from that.
Pre-pandemic, renters’ needs were: 1. location 2. space 3. natural lighting 4. dishwasher 5. elevator 6. laundry 7. doorman
However, today, renters’ needs are based off of: 1. space for a desk/home office 2. a kitchen optimal for cooking 3. natural light 4. laundry 5. doorman 6. location 7. roof deck or private or private outdoor space.
Since many tenants signed leases with low rent prices and large concessions a year ago, predicting how many of those same renters will renew is challenging. But experts believe a lot of these concessions will start to taper off and prices will start to increase, leading to a full recovery of the market in the coming weeks.