Signs are afoot that the party may be over for Manhattan’s residential landlords.
For four months running, new records have been set for landlord concessions on new leases, according to Bloomberg. A full 31% of leases had some form of landlord incentive in January. This blows the previous record of 26% — set in December — out of the water.
In November, an even quarter of leases came with a concession. Landlords are getting creative in how they retain renters. On an earnings call last week, Equity Residential said one thing it is doing to get the ink on the page is offering gift cards to those who commit.
New residential listings in the city climbed 14% in January from a year earlier, prompting landlords to drop their asking rents by 3% from 2016. Concessions averaged the equivalent value of 1.3 months’ rent in January.
