Manhattan's median rent hit $5,295 in June 2026, an all-time high, according to Corcoran's June 2026 Manhattan rental market report. An owner pricing a unit off what the building got in 2024 is leaving real money on the table, and an owner pricing off a headline is usually asking for vacant weeks. The number that decides your rent is narrower than either: what apartments of your size, in your neighborhood, asked in the most recent month, and how many of them there were.
Realtor.com's Q2 2026 rental report puts the New York metro median asking rent at $3,707, up 4.6% year over year, with Manhattan at $5,117, Brooklyn at $4,054, Queens at $3,561, and the Bronx at $3,171. The same report puts Manhattan's rental vacancy under 1.5%. Those are borough-wide medians across every unit size, which is why they sit so far apart from each other and from any single building. Use the lookup below for the number that applies to your unit.
What apartments in your neighborhood asked
Median asking rents for June 2026, by size, with the listing count behind every figure.
What each number means
- Median: half the apartments listed asked more than this and half asked less. One very expensive listing cannot drag this number the way an average gets dragged.
- Year over year: compared with the same month last year, so seasons do not distort it.
- Listings counted: how many apartments were actually listed for rent here that month. Fewer listings usually means renters have less to choose from and owners have more room on price.
- Asking rent, not rent paid: these are asking prices on listings, not signed leases. Final rents can land above or below asking.
- Too few listings here to trust a neighborhood number, so we show the borough figure instead.
Source: StreetEasy Data Dashboard, June 2026. Aggregate rental market data, not individual listings.
Why the sample size sits next to every figure
A median asking rent is only as good as the listings under it. Report a neighborhood studio median built on four listings and one oddly priced apartment sets the price for everybody who reads it. So every figure on this page is built with a floor: if fewer than 30 apartments of that size were listed in that neighborhood in June 2026, the neighborhood number is suppressed before it ever reaches the page and you get the borough figure instead, labeled as such. That rule lives in the data build, not in the display, which means there is no path by which a thin sample renders as a confident neighborhood median.
The figures are asking rents from active listings, not signed leases. Final rents land above asking in a tight month and below asking on a unit that sat. Read the median as the starting line for your pricing conversation, not the finish.
What the FARE Act means for you as an owner
The FARE Act, Local Law 119 of 2024, took effect on June 11, 2025 and changed who can be billed for the broker on a rental. A broker hired by or acting on behalf of a landlord cannot collect any fee from the tenant. A broker who publishes a listing with the owner's permission is presumed to be the owner's agent, and that presumption carries the same result. A handshake arrangement counts the same as a written one, and a tenant cannot waive the protection even if willing.
Two practical duties follow for owners. First, every fee a prospective tenant must pay to rent the apartment gets conspicuously disclosed in the listing itself, application fees included. Second, before the lease is signed, the tenant receives an itemized written disclosure of all fees they must pay, each with a description, signs it, keeps a copy, and the owner retains the signed document for three years. Background and credit check fees permitted by Real Property Law 238-a are unaffected. Enforcement sits with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and tenants can also sue in civil court, so the paperwork is worth getting right the first time. This is a description of the law rather than legal advice, and an owner with an unusual arrangement should ask counsel.
Owners who advertise their own unit
An owner who advertises a unit on channels they control does not necessarily create an agency relationship with a broker. REBNY's guidance for owners who do not want to be represented is to state in the advertisement that it is for informational purposes only, that it is not intended to create an agency relationship between a licensee and the landlord, and that the landlord has not hired any broker for the rental of the unit. A "courtesy of" credit line does not accomplish this.
How I list an owner's rental
I have been licensed in New York since November 2001 and I work across the five boroughs and the Hudson Valley, in English and Spanish. Rentals are part of that practice rather than an afterthought to it: I have an active rental listing right now, and the process is the same discipline as a sale, run on a shorter clock.
- Price from the current month. Your asking rent comes from what comparable units in your neighborhood asked in the most recent month at your bedroom count, adjusted for floor, light, layout, condition, and building amenities. Not from last year, and not from the borough headline.
- Media that carries the unit. Photography and video that show layout and light, because a renter scrolling a feed decides in about two seconds whether to book a viewing.
- Distribution where renters look. The listing goes out through the RLS and the syndication chain, plus the social channels where I publish my listings in both languages.
- Applicant screening on documents. Income verification, credit, employment, prior landlord references, applied on the same standard to every applicant, which is both fair housing law and the only screening that actually predicts anything.
- A lease package that satisfies current disclosure rules. The itemized fee disclosure, the signature sequence, and the retention copy handled as part of the file rather than remembered afterward.
Some of the transactions I have marketed, rented, or sold are published at miltoncoste.com/listings, sorted by price level, more than 1,100 in total.
Or run the sell-instead math first
Plenty of owners arrive here deciding between a tenant and a closing. The honest way to settle it is on paper: what the unit nets you per year as a rental against what a sale would put in your pocket after transfer taxes, attorney fees, and any co-op flip tax. The net proceeds calculator handles the sale side, and I will run the rental side with your carrying costs.
The median recorded sale price for a home in NYC was $900,000 in June 2026, across 2,089 recorded sales (StreetEasy Data Dashboard). That is 5.9% higher than June 2025. These figures describe the market in the month named, not live inventory. The active listings on this site come straight from the RLS feed.
Frequently asked questions
How much can I ask for my NYC apartment?
Start from what comparable units in your neighborhood actually asked, at your bedroom count, in the most recent month. The owner rent lookup at miltoncoste.com/list-your-rental-nyc reports the median asking rent for June 2026 by size, sourced from the StreetEasy Data Dashboard, along with how many apartments were listed that month, because a median built on 40 listings and a median built on 4 are not the same claim. Median means half the listings asked more and half asked less. From that baseline, the adjustments that matter are floor, light, layout, whether the line is renovated, elevator and laundry in the building, and how quickly you need the unit filled. An owner who prices at the neighborhood median and photographs the unit properly usually beats an owner who prices above the median and waits, because vacant weeks cost more than the difference.
Who is allowed to collect a broker fee from a tenant in NYC now?
Under the FARE Act, Local Law 119 of 2024, effective June 11, 2025, a broker hired by or acting on behalf of a landlord cannot collect any fee from the tenant, and a broker who publishes a listing with the landlord's permission is presumed to be the landlord's agent and cannot charge the tenant either. A tenant who independently hires a broker of their own pays that broker. A tenant cannot opt out of the protection, even willingly, and an oral agreement between an owner and a broker counts the same as a written one. Owners who advertise their own units on channels they control do not necessarily create an agency relationship with any broker. The enforcing agency is the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and tenants also have a private right of action.
What do I have to disclose to a tenant before the lease is signed?
Every fee a prospective tenant must pay to rent the apartment has to be conspicuously disclosed in the listing itself, application fees included. Before the lease is signed, the owner or the owner's agent gives the tenant an itemized written disclosure of all fees the tenant must pay, each with a written description. The tenant signs that disclosure before signing the lease, receives a copy, and the owner keeps the signed disclosure for three years. It can ride along as a lease rider, though changing a fee later then requires a lease amendment. Background check and credit check fees allowed under Real Property Law 238-a are still permitted, and repair or replacement costs do not have to be disclosed under this rule. This is a description of the law, not legal advice.
Why does the lookup show a borough number instead of my neighborhood?
Because too few apartments of that size were listed in that neighborhood in June 2026 for the owner rent lookup at miltoncoste.com/list-your-rental-nyc to publish a number anyone should price against. The cutoff is 30 listings, applied when the data file is built rather than at display time, so a thin sample can never reach the page dressed up as a neighborhood median. When a cell falls under the cutoff you get the borough figure, labeled as the borough figure. That is not a gap in the research, it is the honest answer: in a month with six listings, one unusual apartment moves the median enough to send an owner into a bad price.
Should I rent the apartment out or sell it?
It is an arithmetic question before it is a preference. On the rental side you have the achievable asking rent from the owner rent lookup at miltoncoste.com/list-your-rental-nyc, minus maintenance or common charges, taxes on a condo, insurance, the vacancy weeks between tenants, and the repairs a tenanted unit generates. On the sale side you have the price the unit supports today, minus transfer taxes, attorney fees, and any co-op flip tax, which is what the seller net proceeds calculator at miltoncoste.com/seller-net-proceeds-calculator works out. Then the real comparison: what the net sale proceeds would earn if invested against what the unit nets you each year while you hold it. Owners with a low remaining mortgage and a stabilized building often hold. Owners carrying a high maintenance on a unit that has appreciated hard often do better selling. I will run both sides with your actual numbers.
Do you list rentals yourself, or only sales?
Both. I market and lease rentals for owners across the five boroughs and the Hudson Valley, and I have an active rental listing right now. Owner-side rental work is the same discipline as a sale, compressed: price it from the current month of comparable asking rents rather than from last year, photograph and film it properly, publish it where renters actually look, screen applicants on documented income and credit, and hand the owner a lease package that satisfies the current disclosure rules. I work in English and Spanish, which matters on a rental where applicants and owners often do not share a first language.
Talk to Milton About Your Rental
Tell me where the unit is, how many bedrooms, and when you need it filled. I will come back with an asking price built on the current month and a marketing plan.