Upper West Side Rents Fall as Leasing Activity Rises: Report

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In a city where rent increases have become as predictably boring as subway delays, the UWS broke with convention in April.

According to Corcoran’s latest Manhattan Rental Market Report, the Upper West Side was one of only four neighborhoods in all of Manhattan where the number of leases signed increased year-over-year. Leasing increased 18% from April 2024, with a total of 478 leases signed (vs. 404 the previous year).

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At the same time, rents went down. The average rent on the Upper West Side decreased 7%–from $6,429 in April 2024 to $5,981 last month–the largest percentage drop of any neighborhood in the report. In a city where prices don’t typically go down—May was the 43rd of the previous 44 months that rent increased from the previous year—this felt like catching a gust of cool air on a sticky day.

And while the Upper West Side rent drop might indicate weaker demand, the numbers told a different story. The vacancy rate went from 1.78% to 1.22%, indicating that lower rents lit a fire under hesitant renters to sign leases.

In contrast, median rents increased 4% (to $4,800) year-over-year across Manhattan. Inventory decreased 10%, and units got rented in 39 days on average—”the shortest marketing time for an April in over seven years,” the report states.

“Non-doorman apartments were a key factor in the rise of median rents, which increased by 5% year-over-year, setting a new record for this category,” the report notes.

Upper West Side Rental Market: April 2025 vs. April 2024:

	April 2024	April 2025	Year-over-Year Change
Signed Leases	404	478	+18%
Average Rent	$6,429	$5,981	–7%
Vacancy Rate	1.78%	1.22%	–0.56 pts

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