Concessions Rise for New Apartments, Vacancies Rise Anyway

Property managers are offering larger and larger concessions to try to attract tenants to their apartment communities. But, the vacancy rates are inching higher, anyway.

The percentage of vacant apartments in Manhattan in October rose to 2.47%, up from 2.39% the year before. At the same time, property managers offered potential renters months of free rent, equal to 28% of a year’s lease in October, on average, up more than four percentage points from the year before.

“Landlords, and probably tenants, are leery of renting out an apartment where if the concessions weren’t offered, the renter couldn’t afford the apartment,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of the real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, and author of the report to Business Insider.

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