Renting in Brooklyn Instead of Manhattan Saves $410 a Month, Says Report

Brooklyn’s median rent is $410 less than the median in Manhattan, according to the latest report from Douglas Elliman, released today.

The Brooklyn rental market is still going strong, with overall numbers up from last year and the total days on market decreasing by 12 percent.

Rental-hunters need to act fast. Apartments were on the Brooklyn market just an average of 40 days during the month of October. That’s nearly two weeks less than the listing time for the same period last year.

Brooklyn’s rental rates increased overall from 2014, with the average rental price per square foot reaching $42.29 in October — an increase of 9.4 percent. By comparison, Manhattan’s rental price per square foot increased by only 3 percent, to $53.46.

Both median and average rents for one-bedrooms in Brooklyn set new records, at $2,898 and $2,883 respectively. The report did not cover all of Brooklyn, but just the north, northwest and east sides.

Photo by Cate Corcoran

With more units from new construction coming online, the number of new Brooklyn rentals jumped by 18.3 percent from last year — to 802, the report found. Listing inventory of both old and new apartments increased by 8.3 percent to 2,031 units, the report found.

Maybe the glut of new apartments was a factor in Brooklyn’s softening luxury market — the median price of the top 10 percent of listings slipped to $5,852, a decrease of 0.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Elliman report.

[Top photo: Mary Hautman]

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