It's a Renter's Market

Property leases are on the rise, and so are the prices associated with it. The rental market in NYC is so hot that even during this credit crunch, savvy consumers are paying on average 72 dollars per square foot, per year, for their digs.

Based on the high price of renting or leasing in New York you would never guess that the nation is experiencing one of the biggest mortgage crises ever recorded. As homeowners are forced to turn over their homes to their lenders more and more people are finding the money to lease property in the Big Apple.

This time last year prices were at about $64 per square foot per year but now, despite record high gas prices and other economic woes prices have risen to nearly $72 per square foot per year. This is surprising many in the real estate industry as it was assumed people would avoid leasing or renting space unit the current crunch was over.

What's even more amazing is that this increase in the per square foot price has occurred during a time when many of those working in the financial services industry have become unemployed. As more and more lenders fail, the number of jobs in the financial and real estate markets are decreasing. This leaves those who had a job last week without regular incomes. That's not to say that everything is rosy between landlords and tenants, in fact people aren't exactly rushing to find new spaces which means many vacant buildings and offices in Manhattan. Those who are renting are in a position to demand more from their landlords and in most cases landlords are happily handing over what they can to ensure that tenants remain happy and don't cause them to lose their rental property income like so many others.