The Two-Bedroom Hunt in New York Is Worse Than Ever

Getting a good deal on a two-bedroom — the ideal apartment size for someone who needs a roommate or is having a kid — has always been somewhat elusive. But it seems to be getting even more difficult. This month, the median rent for two-bedroom apartments in New York jumped 17.5 percent compared to a year ago, according to a new report by the rental platform Zumper — that translates to $5,560 a month. “Last year, we felt a solid 10 to 15 percent bump, and we thought, This is the new normal, and then this year we got hit with another 20 percent,” says Jamal Syed, a Living NY broker, who pointed to an Upper West Side two-bed that a landlord just listed at $5,400 after renting it out last year for just below $4,700 — a little over a 15 percent hike. “Across the board, everybody is reaching.”

Not everyone in the industry agrees it’s quite that bad — although most confirmed that two-bedroom rents are definitely going way up. The real-estate-analytics firm UrbanDigs found the annual median rent for two-beds increased 8.7 percent to $6,250 in Manhattan and 6.9 percent in Brooklyn, compared to May 2024. According to a Douglas Elliman report for April, the median rent for two-bedrooms in Manhattan increased 10.4 percent, up to $5,735, from the year before. Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, which prepared the Elliman report, tells me the April median rent for Manhattan two-beds was the second-highest price in history, while the all-time record, at $5,995, was broken in February. “We’re seeing price growth across the board, but the biggest price growth we’re seeing is in the two-bedroom space,” he says. The fact that this is happening before the summer, the typical season for setting rental records, suggests that more highs are possible in the coming months, he adds.

So, what’s driving the double-digit growth? Syed, who handles rental portfolios throughout Manhattan, suggested landlords are passing on their growing expenses to tenants, be it additional material or labor costs, as well as deferred maintenance from the pandemic era. Miller also pointed to mortgage rates, which he says remain stubbornly high due to the recent tariff chaos and may even increase with Donald Trump’s “very inflationary” One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “One of the most common paths to homeownership is a starter rental to a small two-bedroom purchase, and so what we’re seeing is a lot of would-be buyers staying put because the expected drop in rates this spring didn’t happen because of the tariff tantrum,” he says. This, combined with what he called “inadequate” housing stock for two-bedrooms, has led to the sizable rent increases.

Whatever the reason, Keyan Sanai, a broker at Douglas Elliman, says many two-bedroom tenants he has spoken with have decided to renew their leases and eat any of the increased costs rather than leave their units and brave the market. “My buddy who has a two-bed, he had an increase of 4 percent and he took it. He didn’t even try to negotiate,” Sanai says. “He thinks it’s a good deal.”