Metro

And the rentals are too damn scarce

Manhattan rents soared 10.2 percent in the past year as tenants scrambled for new apartments in the tightest, fastest-moving market in years, new figures show.

The median rent hit $3,195 a month — and $3,500 with a doorman, the Prudential Douglas Elliman report found.

Apartments are being snatched up at the fastest pace in 20 years. Apartments were on the market for an average of only 39 days, compared with 55 days last year.

Tenants are looking to move to new neighborhoods or to cheaper apartments in response to rising rents.

“It’s a game of musical chairs,” said analyst Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc., who prepared the report.

The West Side — from West 34th Street to West 116th Street — is riding the crest of the rent boom. One-bedroom apartments went for a median rent of $3,390, up a whopping 13 percent from a year ago.

Making the hunt for an apartment harder is the extraordinarily tight market. The vacancy rate in Manhattan is a tiny 1.85 percent, down from last year’s already-low 2.62 percent. The West Side had the highest vacancy rate, at 2.55 percent.

Landlords know how tight the market is and they’re more reluctant to grant concessions, like waiving one month’s rent, to get someone to sign a lease.

Only 2 percent of listings had a landlord concession, down from 8.6 percent last year, the report found.

The situation was not as gloomy for tenants in Brooklyn. Median rents overall dropped 2.1 percent, to $2,350 — although one-bedroom apartments jumped 10.5 percent to $2,100 and two-bedrooms rose 6.9 percent to $2,673.

What’s fueling the expensive and competitive market is tight credit for would-be buyers along with the continuing economic rebound, Miller said.

“We’ve seen a lot of job growth. The rental market is the first responder to job growth,” he said.