Manhattan rents SKYROCKET to record-high of almost $7k a month in Mamdani's NYC

Rent in Manhattan under socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has skyrocketed to nearly $7,000 a month on average, according to new data from the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

The average rent price, which is now at $6,655 a month, is an all-time high for Manhattan and is a 10 percent jump from last year. The rent price hikes come as Mamdani has decided to freeze the rents for rent-stabilized units and is attempting to squeeze wealthy New Yorkers with his looming pied-a-terre tax. The price tag is also compounded by the mayor's pursuit of policies to pump taxpayer dollars into more social programs, sending wealthy New Yorkers who support the tax base running for the hills.

The median rent is at $5,295, which is up 6 percent from last year. Most apartments are getting hit with higher costs, with studios now averaging $4,088, up 8 percent year over year. One-bedroom apartments are at $5,486 (up 7 percent), two-bedrooms are at $8,054 (up 13 percent), and three-bedrooms are at around $12,228 (up 12 percent). 

The vacancy rate in Manhattan sits at 1.49 percent, which is down slightly from last year's 1.57 percent. However, separately, 57,000 rent-stabilized apartments sat empty in 2025, according to landlord reports cited by the New York Post. For the regulated market, that is around 5.6 percent of the whole supply of housing, which is up from 3.7 percent over a decade ago.

Gary Malin, who is the CEO of The Corcoran Group, blamed City Hall and Albany for the situation that has taken place over the course of years.

“Misguided New York City and State legislation, like ‘good cause’ eviction, the FARE act, and the 2019 rent laws, have in large part created this perfect storm for sky-high rents,” Malin said. “These laws have curtailed the supply of rental housing. This has caused demand to build up to a boiling point and pricing for available apartments to reach all-time highs. Legislators seem to care more about optics versus the actual impact of their policies. Their initiatives may be well intentioned, but there’s been severe unintended consequences, and today’s apartment seekers are literally paying the price.”

Malin says that with Mamdani's rent freezes, the issue will only get worse. “One thing is for certain, landlords’ costs will still go up regardless of the new rent freeze,” Malin added. “While the freeze may be good news for rent stabilized tenants, the bad news for market rate renters is that these increased expenses will likely be passed on to them, in the form of higher rents when it’s time to renew their lease.”

Mamdani's rent freezes have taken place at 1 million apartments around the city, and nearly 50 percent of those housing units are occupied by foreign nationals who settled in the Big Apple.