NYC Median Apartment Rents Reach Record High
The median asking rent for New York City apartments reached a record $3,785 in the third quarter of 2026, up $162, or 4.5%, from a year ago, while buying a median-priced home cost $6,952 more per month than renting. With mortgage rates above 7%, the estimated monthly cost of that home would rise to about $11,008, according to the Realtor.com 2026 Q3 NYC Rental Report.
Across four of the five boroughs excluding Staten Island, the median asking rent is now at its highest level since Realtor.com began tracking the data in Q2 2019. Affordability pressure is especially concentrated among smaller homes: the median asking rent for units with zero to two bedrooms rose 7.1% year-over year to $3,662, while rent for units with three or more bedrooms rose 2.9% to $5,089.
“New York City’s rent growth is broad-based, but the sharpest increase is in the smaller-unit segment, where affordability-minded renters are competing for limited options,” said Jiayi Xu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “At the same time, the cost of buying a typical home is nearly three times the cost of renting, and a mortgage rate above 7% would push that monthly cost even higher. That combination makes it harder for renters to build savings and move toward homeownership.”
Other News
Mattapan Site Will Contain 105 Affordable Housing Units
Colliers arranged the $8.75 million sale of 1590 Blue Hill Ave., a 1.63-acre site in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood. A partnership between the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, a nonprofit housing developer affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, and JGE Development acquired the property from the McKeen family. The partnrship has secured city approvals for a...
Learn more
Gilbane Development Breaks Ground on First Phase of $350M Student Housing Project
Gilbane Development has broken ground on The Southern Gateway, the first phase of “Elevate WKU,” a transformative $350 million public-private partnership with Western Kentucky University (WKU) to reimagine its on-campus housing. “With shovels now in the ground, Elevate WKU is one step closer to revitalizing aging campus infrastructure and delivering a modern, community-focused campus experience...
Learn more
Kidder Mathews Arranges Sale of 54K-SF MF Development Site in Kirkland
Kidder Mathews has arranged the sale of a 54,886-square-foot multifamily development site at 9755 NE Juanita Drive in Kirkland, Washington. Dylan Simon, Jerrid Anderson, and JD Fuller of the Simon | Anderson Multifamily Team represented the seller, an institutional developer, and served as the sole brokers in the transaction. Located in Kirkland’s Juanita neighborhood, the...
Learn more
Brokers
View All-
Remax Real Estate Professionals
Re/Max Real Estate Professionals
-
Jared Ennis
Central CA Commercial | California
-
Rick Recckio
Recckio Real Estate & Development
-
Greg Corbin
Northgate Real Estate Group
Lenders
View AllManagement
View All-
Essex Property Trust, Inc.
California
-
Josh A
California
-
Bob Tuteur
-
Andrew Schildcrout