Since the housing market reached its slump, more and more homeowners have resorted to renting – causing vacancy rates to fall. Last month, though, Manhattan’s apartment vacancy rate increased.

For the first time in nine months, Manhattan saw an increase in apartment vacancy rate in August. In the same month, lesser rent concessions were also provided by landlords. This data came from New York-based CitiHabitats.

From July’s 0.88%, rental vacancies went to 1.1% in August, the highest since April’s 1.23%. The rental vacancies, which declined month-on-month since November, finally saw an increase thanks to rent breaks and New York City’s improvement in unemployment rate. According to the New York Department of Labor, jobless rate went down from June’s 9.5% to July’s 9.4%.

CitiHabitats based its figures on 11 Manhattan neighborhood’s 300 “bellwether buildings”. This covered 52,000 apartments, with buildings ranging from walk-ups to high-rises.

Studios and one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan saw very little change in July, with an average of $1,821 and $2,487 in August. As for two-bedroom apartments, there was 1% increase to $3,450. Three-bedroom rents, however, declined to same amount at $4,590.

Most landlord-sponsored concessions were offered only at new buildings. And these, like payment of broker’s fees or month’s free rent, happened to only 20% of rental transactions. In June, 28% of CitiHabitats’ deals were coupled with landlord incentives.

CitHabitats’ rental estimate report was based on the 1,400 lease deals handled in August.