With a surplus of luxury units in Manhattan, renters looking at higher price points seem to have more negotiating power.
In August, the most expensive rentals, defined as the top 20% of all the rental units on market, experienced the lowest price growth since September 2010, increasing just 2.2% since last year, according to StreetEasy.
The latest market reports released Friday by the real estate portal show that while sales price growth in Manhattan has slowed over the past year, the rental market is starting to follow suit, with the luxury market leading the way.
According to the report, Manhattan's median rent increased 2.9% to $3,320 in August. At the same time in 2015, rents had increased 5.8% year-over-year. While luxury rentals saw the least growth of all price tiers, rents for the least expensive rentals—the bottom 20%—grew twice as fast, increasing 4.4 percent.
“The rental market was much calmer this summer than in years past,” said StreetEasy economist Krishna Rao. “Though rents in Manhattan have been rising, this is mainly due to demand at the bottom of the market.”
StreetEasy projects that Manhattan's median rent will increase 4.3% over the next 12 months to $3,461. Downtown is expected to have the most growth of 5.4%.
Write to Fang Block at fang.block@dowjones.com