An amazing statistic was released yesterday by Citi Habitats, Inc. Christine Haughney of The New York Times reports:
The vacancy rate for rental apartments in nearly every Manhattan neighborhood remained below 1 percent for all of 2006, according to data released yesterday by the rental brokerage firm Citi Habitats Inc. Last year was the first time in the five years that Citi Habitats has been collecting this data that the vacancy rate was below 1 percent throughout the whole year. In the West Village, the vacancy rate shrank as low as 0.49 percent. Prices for studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments throughout Manhattan jumped by about 9 percent from the previous year, and prices for three-bedroom apartments rose by nearly 14 percent. Citi Habitats surveyed 60,000 units for its report.
Perhaps this is a contributing factor as to why the Manhattan housing market remains buoyed while the rest of the country experiences the worst home sales drop in 18 years (from CNN.com). Check out the the NAR’s Realtor.com which suggests that the drop in prices and activity is mostly weather related. Are you kidding me? It’s true that the weather doesn’t slow down New Yorkers, but is this the first year in 18 years that we have had a bad winter?…I’m puzzled…and tired of all the spin.
