Now that the sales market is so hot, these units are being sold as leases expire. So you have a loss of rentals just when you need them. The most recent to go is the Mondrian, a prime building on East 54th Street that rented up after failing to sell when it opened six years ago during the recession. Last month, the Mondrian stopped renting and started selling again. Even at stiff prices, the rare new rental building that does come to market is stampeded.
Savvy renters know they have to move it or lose it.
Really move it, in the case of an English couple who wanted an apartment on the thirty-fourth floor of West End Towers, the big new rental project on the Upper West Side. The elevator wasn't working when they wanted to see it. The Upper West Side, long a comfort zone for strapped tenants, is now as stress-inducing as a Saturday morning at Fairway. The new order was signaled just over a year ago with the opening of the Millennium tower on 67th Street. The West Side had never seen prices like that.