Manhattan rents highest in two years, studios up 18 percent in a year - NYPOST.com

Manhattan rents highest in two years, studios up 18 percent in a year - NYPOST.com

Manhattan rents are soaring to their highest levels in two years, and it’s the smaller apartments that are in demand — and seeing the biggest hikes.

The average rent in Manhattan is $3,778, up 9 percent in a year, a new report by the Prudential Douglas Elliman real-estate firm found.

But it’s worse if you’re looking for a studio. Average studio rents leaped to $2,569 in the second quarter of the year, a whopping 18.8 percent jump compared with the same period in 2011, the report found. 

Also, rents rose for apartments all over Manhattan, with the biggest hikes, of 13.5 percent, on both the West Side and uptown.

“There are two primary reasons for the increases,” said Jonathan Miller, who prepared the report. 

“First,” he said, “there is the tightness of credit on the purchase side.”

Apartment dwellers who want to buy rather than rent — and who’d love to take advantage of falling mortgage rates — find they don’t qualify, he said.

The second factor driving up rents is the city’s economic rebound. That means people with new jobs are looking around — and looking first at smaller apartments, he said.