Guide
When is the best time to list an apartment for rent in NYC?
NYC asking rents are highest in July and August and lowest in January, and listings follow the same curve. But the best time to list a vacant apartment is as soon as it is ready. Holding it empty for summer costs more than summer adds. The season is worth planning for at signing, by choosing a lease term that ends in the busy months.
The data
When do NYC rents and listings peak?
In the summer. In 2025, the citywide median asking rent on StreetEasy was lowest in January and highest in August, and the number of listings peaked in July.
NYC rental listings on StreetEasy, December 2025, the year's low
StreetEasy Data Dashboard, December 2025
NYC rental listings on StreetEasy, July 2025, the year's peak
StreetEasy Data Dashboard, July 2025
Part of the January-to-August gap is ordinary growth, because rents rose through the year. The seasonal part shows in what happened next: by December the median ask had fallen back to $3,850, about $236 below the August peak. The same shape appears in 2023 and 2024 (StreetEasy Data Dashboard), and Brooklyn follows it too.
Summer brings more competition as well as higher prices. There were about 50% more rental listings in July than in December. Asking rents still rise while listings pile up, which is the sign of more renters looking. These are asking rents, not signed rents, so read them as the direction of the market rather than what a lease will say.
The tempting mistake
Should you keep an apartment empty until summer?
Almost never. The summer premium is small next to the rent you lose while the unit sits.
Take the citywide figures above. The seasonal swing from August to December was about $236 a month, or about $2,832 over a 12-month lease. A single empty month at the December median costs $3,850. Holding a unit through one winter month to catch the summer rent loses money before the lease is even signed, and most owners who try it hold for several.
Your own numbers will differ, but the shape rarely changes. Work out what a vacant month costs you.
Planning ahead
How can you move your next vacancy into the busy season?
With the lease term, at signing. A unit that rents in the winter does not have to come back on the market in the winter.
A 12-month lease signed in December ends in December, and the next vacancy lands in the slowest part of the year again. Offering a longer term moves it. For a lease starting on the 1st, these terms put the next vacancy in June:
| Lease starts in | Term for a June vacancy |
|---|---|
| November | 19 months |
| December | 18 months |
| January | 17 months |
| February | 16 months |
Offer the longer term as an option rather than a condition, since some renters want exactly a year. A free month tied to the longer term is one way to make it the easier choice. How concessions and lease length work together.
This applies to free-market apartments. Rent-stabilized leases are one or two years, at the tenant's choice, so the term is not yours to set.
Timing the listing
When should you start marketing a vacancy?
As soon as you know the move-out date. Every week the listing is live before the unit is empty is a week it is not empty afterward.
That usually means showing the apartment while the current tenant is still there, with times agreed in advance. How to run showings, including in an occupied unit.
And price for the month you are in, not the one you wish it were. A winter unit priced off summer comparables sits. How to price off comparables from the same season.
Straight answers
Owner questions about timing, answered directly
What is the worst month to list an apartment in NYC?
December and January are the slowest: in 2025 the citywide listing count bottomed in December and the median ask in January. But a vacancy that falls then still rents when it is priced for the month, and there are fewer listings competing with it.
Does Brooklyn follow the same pattern as Manhattan?
Yes, closely. In 2025 Brooklyn's median asking rent was lowest in January and highest in August, and its listings peaked in July, on the same StreetEasy series. Neighborhood asking rents are on our neighborhood pages.
Should I renovate in the winter and list in the spring?
Only if the work is worth doing anyway. Work that has to happen between tenants is best done fast, so the unit is back on the market in the same season it came off. What is worth fixing before you list.
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