Brooklyn Apartment Leasing Hits Its Strongest September Since 2020

Renters are crossing the river as a tight Manhattan pushes apartment demand into Brooklyn.

October 20, 2026

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Good morning. Brooklyn just posted its busiest September for apartment leasing since 2020. With Manhattan vacancy stuck near 1.5%, renters are voting with their feet and heading across the river.

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Market Snapshot

Most Active Neighborhood

By Deal Count

Sheepshead Bay — 6 sales

Properties Sold

All Asset Types

129

Transaction Volume

Sales Activity

$1.04B

Top Office Submarket

Avg Starting Rent

Hudson Yards

$158.50 / SF

Manhattan Office Rent

Avg Effective

$83.69 / SF

Office Rent Growth

YoY Change

+17.5%

*Office metrics courtesy of CompStak; data from 4/01/26 to 6/30/26. Sales metrics courtesy of Actovia; NYC properties reported sold during the week of 10/2/26 – 10/8/26.

Rental Market

Brooklyn Leasing Hits Its Strongest September Since 2020

Brooklyn apartments leased at their fastest September pace since 2020 last month, according to Corcoran, as a tight Manhattan pushed renters across the river.

By the numbers: Brooklyn signed 1,407 leases in September, up 10% year over year, while Manhattan leases fell 5% to 3,841, per Corcoran data reported by Commercial Observer.

Two-bedrooms led: Larger units drove the gain. Two-bedroom leases reached 434, up 21% and the best September since 2020, and studios set a September record at 248.

The rent gap: Brooklyn's average rent rose 5% to $4,300 a month, while Manhattan's jumped 9% to $5,395, leaving a roughly $1,100 monthly premium to cross the bridge for.

Supply keeps shrinking: Brooklyn's active listings fell to 3,428, down 25% from a year earlier, as Manhattan inventory hit its thinnest September since 2019 with vacancy near 1.5%.

A five-month squeeze: Corcoran's Gary Malin said Manhattan has held vacancy around 1.5% for five straight months, its longest such stretch since 2020, keeping pricing elevated and competition fierce.

➥ THE TAKEAWAY

What to watch: A new Rent Guidelines Board freeze took effect Oct. 1, and the question is whether Brooklyn can hold this pace as listings thin further and Manhattan vacancy refuses to move off 1.5%.

Around New York

➥ Manhattan landlords are signing off-market leases before space ever lists, JLL says, as third-quarter leasing hit 10.06M SF and availability tightened to 12.4%.

➥ The office rebound is spreading beyond trophy towers toward Lexington and Third avenues, JLL says, as total vacancy fell to 12.6% from 14.7% a year ago.

➥ Fresh 485x data show developers capping buildings at 99 units, with 49 registered projects stopping at exactly 99 and only four going above the 100-unit wage-and-affordability threshold.

➥ New Manhattan sales listings surged to their highest level in four years, StreetEasy reports, as sellers test a tight, high-rent market before year-end.

➥ Three building-trades unions endorsed Governor Kathy Hochul’s reelection, Commercial Observer reports, lining up roughly 61,000 skilled-trades members behind her campaign.

➥ Media mogul Byron Allen keeps trading units at 220 Central Park South, where first resales have averaged 43% above sponsor prices, TRD reports.

➥ The city’s development corporation faces four years of projected deficits, Bisnow reports, after costly life-sciences bets like the Brooklyn Army Terminal fell short.

Follow the Money

RETAILMANHATTAN Vornado hired Brookfield’s Elisa Young to lead leasing of its 2.3M SF of Manhattan street retail across 40 buildings.

MULTIFAMILYBROOKLYN Gilbane bought a rezoned Sheepshead Bay site for $37M to build 470 affordable apartments, 103 of them for homeownership with Habitat.

MULTIFAMILYNEW YORK Rent-stabilized owners’ operating costs rose 5.2% in a year even as a second straight rent freeze holds their increases at zero through 2027.

OFFICEMIDTOWN BXP sold a 10.6% stake in its planned $2B, 930K SF 343 Madison Avenue tower to AVRS Partners, now 56% pre-leased.

MULTIFAMILYPARK SLOPE Goose landed a $143M Affinius construction loan for four 10-story towers, more than 396 units, on the former Arrow Linen site.

MULTIFAMILYGREENPOINT Double U secured $23M from Colorado Federal Bank to turn a former Greenpoint wedding venue into 60 apartments.

OFFICEMIDTOWN EAST CSC drew $83.5M from BridgeCity to convert a 1931 office tower at 136 East 57th Street into 136 luxury apartments.

OFFICESOHO A SoHo office-and-retail trophy building refinanced with a $216M bridge loan, GlobeSt reports, as lenders chase fully leased mixed-use assets.

📈 CHART OF THE WEEK

New York developers appear to be clustering at 99 apartments, with 47 buildings stopping just below the 100-unit threshold that triggers stricter 485-x tax incentive requirements.