by Calculated Risk on 4/13/2009 03:00:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Manhattan Apartment Rents Fall as Unemployment Rises

Manhattan apartment rents fell as much as 5.9 percent in March from a year earlier as rising unemployment damped demand, Citi-Habitats Inc. said.
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Rents for studios dropped 2.1 percent to an average of $1,812, while those for one-bedroom apartment fell 5.9 percent to $2,595. The cost of renting two-bedroom homes declined 2.2 percent to $3,631 and three-bedrooms fell 1.6 percent to an average of $4,670.

The average declines for March don’t reflect concessions offered by landlords, such as a free month’s rent, that lower the overall cost, [Gary Malin, president of Citi-Habitats] said.

“There is a greater degree of price decline than those numbers show,” he said.

Some asking prices are falling even faster. From Amanda Fung at Crain's on New York: Big landlord takes hit on falling apt. rents

Since February alone, Equity Residential has lowered its Manhattan asking rents by an average of 13%, said Michael Levy, an analyst at Macquarie. That reduction came on top of a 15% cut over the previous year.