Manhattan Apartments: Free rent but still not cheap

The analysts at the investment firm Sandler O’Neil recently did a tour of the Manhattan apartment market with some of the biggest publicly-traded management companies including Avalon Bay and Equity Residential.

The news is that rents are off approximately 15%, much as in other parts of the country. The vancancy rate is up to 6%. In the past, Manhattan apartment buildings were almost always fully leased.