Data Insider

Annual effective rent growth in New York City surpassed 5 percent in January for the first time in three years, continuing a season of growth in the nation's largest city, reports Axiometrics.

The average New York renter is paying $3,391 per month, $223 more than the $3,168 charged one year ago. The city's 97.1 percent occupancy is 97 basis points (bps) higher than the 96.1 percent of January 2014.

The New York-Wayne-White Plains Metropolitan Division experienced 5.1 percent rent growth in January, continuing a meteoric rise after recording 1.2 percent rent growth in July 2014. 

January's rate represented a 44-bps increase from the 4.7 percent of December 2014 and a 585-bps increase from the -0.8 percent of January 2014. 

The rate is the highest since the 5.1 percent of January 2012, according to Axiometrics' apartment data, which is collected by calling every community in its database each month.