On January 17, 2024, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released a report titled “Spotlight: New York City’s Rental Housing Market.” Here are three highlights from the report:

1) New York City rents have recovered from their COVID-19 lows. As of November 2023, median asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $3,795 and that of a one-bedroom was $3,272.

The median asking rent in November 2023 was $3,500, 40 percent higher than the $2,500 recorded in November 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back then, asking rents for a two-bedroom was $2,700 and a one-bedroom was $2,400.

2) Available rentals are rising but are still far below COVID-19 highs. As of November 2023, available rentals in the city were 32,049, up 8.6 percent from 29,500 in November 2022. In November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, available rentals stood at a high 67,782.

The stock of available rental apartments has been falling since the spring/summer of 2021, when businesses began recalling people to the office. This prompted many New Yorkers back to the city. The rise in available listings over the last two years is attributed mostly to new projects coming on line.

3) New York City remains a renters’ city. A good 69 percent of New York City residents rent their residences, outnumbering owners by a huge margin. Of the five boroughs, only Staten Island has more homeowners than renters (61 percent). In the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan more than half of rental units were rent regulated in some way.