A new report by the real estate corporation Corcoran Group mentioned that rents skyrocketed in June as the ongoing housing shortage led to intense competition. It also mentioned after analyzing trends, that the median price that someone pays for rent in Manhattan is up 3% from May to June to $5,295.
Meanwhile, the median rent for apartments in Brooklyn crept up by a tenth of a percent to $4,350, a smaller increase, but still an all time-high.
“Across the board, quality apartments are commanding a premium, and renters have little room to negotiate,” said Gary Malin, chief operating officer of The Corcoran Group.
The two boroughs had seen a median increase of rent by a median of 8% since 2025, according to the report. Two neighborhoods in Brooklyn were outliers. The average rent in Prospect Heights dropped 15% from $5,312 in June 2025 to $4,537 in June 2026. Prospect Park South saw a smaller 6% decrease in average rents from $3,511 in June 2025 to $3,306 in June 2026.
Read: NYC rent board votes to freeze rents for 1 million stabilized apartments
(June 26, 2026)
Malin mentioned that the historically low vacancy rate was driving up competition among rental applicants. This was true for both boroughs, which saw the days that vacant apartments spent on the market fall around 30% from the same time in 2025 to 37 days for listings in Brooklyn and 36 days for listings in Manhattan.
“Throughout the borough, competition remains intense, urgency is high, and well-priced listings are disappearing almost as quickly as they hit the market,” Malin said.
The Corcoran Group noted that the neighborhood with the biggest hike in rent was South Williamsburg, where average rents spiked 44% from $4,571 in June 2025 to a record-setting $6,569 in June 2026. DUMBO was not far behind, with a huge 33% increase in the average rent from $6,406 in June of 2025 to a whopping $8,513 in June of 2026.
Read: Hanu Karlapalem accuses incumbent of silence on Alabama housing affordability crisis
(June 25, 2026)
Malin also speculated that the FARE act–which bans the practice of passing off fees to real estate brokers who were not contracted by the tenant–could potentially impact the rental prices. However, this has been contested amongst real estate industry professionals, lawmakers and housing advocates.
The city has also made efforts to increase its housing stock, most notably through the landmark citywide rezoning effort, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. Housing production is on the rise, with the Department of City Planning reporting that in 2025, NYC added the most units of housing since 1965. However, the shortage remains.
In 2022, then-Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul set the goal of building and preserving 500,000 units of housing over the course of a decade. Current Mayor Zohran Mamdani is taking up the task, vowing to build 200,000 new units and preserve another 200,000 units of housing over the next decade.