The "There Is No Inflation" Report: Manhattan Rent Edition

Bloomberg reports:

Manhattan’s apartment market is heating up in the busiest season for moving, sending rents to a five-year high and shifting the advantage back to landlords after a brief respite for tenants.

The median monthly rent rose 3.1 percent in May from a year earlier to $3,300, the highest since February 2009, according to a report today by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The vacancy rate slipped to 1.58 percent from 1.60 percent.

Rents are rebounding after a six-month slide that started in September, when a surge in home sales helped push up apartment vacancies. Rigid mortgage standards and higher prices are tipping would-be buyers into the rental market, while employment growth is increasing the pool of potential tenants, said Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based Miller Samuel.

“Weakness in the rental market was short lived,” Miller said in an interview. “This pent-up demand from purchasers has been worked off and more people are getting hired. Rents tend to react more to rising employment than purchases.”

New York City added 75,000 jobs in the 12 months through April, according to the state Labor Department. The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, down from 8.8 percent in April 2013.