The Lease You Can Do…

A new study concludes that four Lower Manhattan neighborhoods are among the most expensive communities in New York to rent an apartment.

In an analysis by the RentCafe real estate blog RentCafe, Tribeca places first as the most expensive neighborhood in Manhattan, or anywhere in the five boroughs, with an average monthly rent of $5,586, which encompasses a range from studio apartments (going for $3,043) up to three-bedroom units, which rent for $11,582.

Tribeca takes first place for highest cost to tenants anywhere in New York.

Battery Park City comes in third, with an overall average rent just slightly lower than Tribeca’s, at $5,399. In the 92 acres of landfill between West Street and the Hudson River, studio apartments are fetching more than in Tribeca (at $3,431), but three-bedroom units are asking a 10.3 percent less ($10,386).

The Civic Center neighborhood trails both Tribeca and Battery Park City, taking twelfth place on RentCafe’s list, with $4,419. In the area surrounding City Hall, studios fetch $3,026, while three-bedroom apartments ask slightly more than in Battery Park City ($10,652).

The Civic Center neighborhood came in at the No. 12 spot.

And the Financial District appears to be the comparative bargain in Lower Manhattan, with an average rent of $4,016. In FiDi, studios cost $3,153, while three-bedroom units cost an average of $9,575.

Even so, relatively few Lower Manhattan residents appear to struggle with housing costs. a separate report, issued earlier this month by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), a leading housing advocacy organization in the report, found that 30.1 percent of Lower Manhattan residents contend with “rent burden,” which is defined as the cohort of tenants who spend more than one-third of their gross monthly income on rent. Although apartment rents are climbing ever higher in Lower Manhattan, this statistic appears to hinge on the unusually high local household income.

The Financial District ranks 29 in the tally by RentCafe.

Somewhat counterintuitively, the least-affordable communities in Manhattan, as measured by the prevalence of “rent burden,” are some of the most economically disadvantaged. On the Lower East Side, for example, a 2017 study found that the median asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment is just a shade lower than on the Upper East Side, but the local median income is about one-fifth of that found uptown.

To review the RentCafe report on which this story is based, please click here.