Upper West Side Median Rent Jumps Back Over $4K: Data Breakdown

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Even as the number of available apartments has continued to rise on the Upper West Side, renters still have not seen any relief, according to a new study by StreetEasy.

That's because many of the newly available homes are being given up by tenants whose pandemic-era leases are expiring, leaving them to face dramatic rent increases, according to the study.

The study, released last week, found that at least 34 percent of New York City's listed apartments had discounted leases during the pandemic — only to return to the market now at historically high prices.

That trend has been most notable in Manhattan, where rental inventory rose by 33 percent between the first and second quarters of 2022.

But a full 44 percent of that inventory was freed up by tenants who were priced out of their suddenly-expensive apartments, according to StreetEasy's analysis, which examined rental listings across the city during the year's second quarter.

Here's where the numbers stood for the Upper West Side in the second quarter of 2022, which is April, May, and June.

• Median Asking Price: $1.625 million
• YoY Change: +8.30 percent
• Median Asking Rent: $4,046
• YoY Change: +39.50 percent
• Median Sales Price: $1.25 million
• YoY Change: +8.50 percent

Upper West Side rent is up $171 from the first quarter of 2022, when it was $3,875 in the neighborhood.

Overall, the UWS had the 25th most expensive rent of any New York City neighborhood during the most recent quarter.

Across Central Park, the Upper East Side posted a much more affordable median asking rent during the second quarter of 2022 at $3,395.

StreetEasy economist Kenny Lee explained that landlords have begun amping up prices in a mass wave — with asking rents jumping about 20 percent citywide — and left tenants of formerly-discounted homes with a tough decision to make.

"Either pay painfully higher annual rent," Lee said, "or...[face] an incredibly hot market in terms of options."

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.